Fun for the Year

5 FUN EXTRAS

BY

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Chris Danton

Guest Contributor

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Chris Danton

Predictions

‍DISCOVERY SCRAMBLE // AI buries small businesses, but newsletters surface them. AI flattens search and pushes everything toward the same, or worse, aggregate answers. Niche brands and small businesses are harder to stumble upon. But newsletters become the new discovery engine.
‍MEDIA MUTATES (AGAIN) // Old media will die, and new media fractures more. Substack, newsletters, and creator-led journalism become the new power centers. Until they don’t. Big names want out from under platform fees and rules, causing things to splinter into a new version of the old guard.
‍HIGH-EFFORT EVERYTHING // Time to lean into: harder to make, harder to fake, harder to find, harder to follow. As AI floods the market with slop, high-effort output matters. People want the thing that took time, skill, taste, or pain to produce. Campaigns look different in this light. High production is no longer synonymous with effort. High creativity is. And don’t forget to document the process.
‍AI OVERRUN // Rapid AI adoption breaks the bubble (and the workforce). AI goes into overdrive: mass adoption, mass efficiency, and the very real possibility of a bubble popping. Brands confront the idea of doing more with fewer humans. But all is not lost. A new wave of solo entrepreneurs emerges. Think: 5x the Covid entrepreneur-boom, powered entirely by AI tools. 2-person shops become powerhouses.
‍ROBOT NORMALCY // Little bots are about to go mainstream. Not creepy humanoids but helpers. Tiny, non-threatening robots that water plants, deliver groceries, check inventory, guide guests, run errands, and quietly reshape expectations of convenience. Waymo becomes boring. Doorstep robots become standard.
‍REACTIVE TO RECOMMENDED // AI is about to flip the script. Fueled by your millions of late-night queries, access to your calendar/email, and your wearable, it will know what you need before you do. An anticipatory underlayer to your life. Gift for your daughter’s friend’s party next week? Ordered when you added it to the calendar. Midnight fever? Genexa at your door in the morning. Recommended is the new reaction.

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