The single most powerful idea I've learned as a founder over the past decade:
The future is not a forgone conclusion.
MLK Jr's powerful "The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice" or Sam Altman's belief that his kids will grow up to be vastly more capable because of AI are both powerful beacons of possibility, but they are not inevitabilities.
It take a lot of effort, intentionality and persistence.Better happens because people notice and care to make it happen. They dig in and make it their mission. Innovation and invention is an incredibly powerful force of change and good in the world. An addictive one. I think that's why the longer I'm a founder, the longer I find it hard to imagine I can be anything else.
But the reality is that broad ideas exist in the world as specific implementations. And the real magic happens when many people with vastly different circumstances build from their specific viewpoints of justice and ease and capability and delight.
So I feel this urgency is building inside of me, along with the excitement.... there is so much of the world that is going to open up with this foundational technology - actually solving for uneven labor in the home, being incredible thought partners, making educational access and equity possible.....
But none of these are forgone conclusions. They're simply possibilities.
And the thing about possibilities is that they need people to pull them out of the ether and start building them into reality here, on the ground.
But who is going to do that? Today, most of the building and defining of AI is happening with a shockingly small number of people who share a very small set of backgrounds and defining views.
So we need to build builders.
People who can move through the world confident, capable and equipped with what they need to to be the change they want to see in the world - regardless of where they come from, what they look like or who they know.
The future is not inevitable. But nor is it to be left to a few to design and build.
I think the greatest abundance will happen when each of us feel empowered to use these tools to build the futures each of us dream of.