When Value Creation Is All That’s Left

You might have heard about this article that predicts a gloomy future in 2028.

THE 2028 GLOBAL INTELLIGENCE CRISIS

It describes a scenario where the economy slides because AI becomes so good and so cheap that the consumer base shrinks.

In that world, companies produce more with fewer people, but fewer people have income, so demand collapses. Some say it even helped trigger the slide in tech stocks. But is the future really that gloomy?

Something has changed in the way digital products compete. Not because AI suddenly makes everything easy, but because it removes the old reasons people stayed with a tool.

For a long time, companies depended on friction:

• long onboarding
• complicated data structures
• formats nobody else used
• messy integrations
• tools that were hard to switch away from Customers didn’t stay because the product was great.They stayed because leaving was a hassle.

That model doesn’t work anymore.

Why the Old Moats Don’t Hold

AI makes many of the old pain points disappear.

Data that used to require a specialist to interpret can now be summarized in a few seconds. Even changing software — something that used to require a migration plan, training, and a team — is getting simpler.

When switching becomes easy, loyalty has to be earned.

This is uncomfortable for companies that relied on lock-in.But it’s good for everyone else.

When SaaS valuations drop, some people assume AI is “killing SaaS.” What’s dying is the idea that you can keep customers by making exit painful. If a product is only safe when the customer has no choice, it’s not a product. It’s a trap. AI simply makes the trap easier to escape.

Value Creation Becomes the Only Real Strategy

When the obstacles fall away, one question remains:

Does this actually help someone do something they care about?

If it doesn’t, no moat will save it.

This is the shift:Companies now have to create value in a direct, visible way..Not through complexity.Not through data silos.Not through formats nobody else supports.Not through gatekeeping.

Just real, usable value.

This is harder than relying on friction.But it’s clearer.

Why Data Products Matter Now

In many industries — especially AEC — people sit on piles of data but get very little out of it.

A “data product” is not:

• a dashboard
• a chart
• a database A data product is something that helps someone understand what they’re looking at, without needing a technical background.

It answers simple, practical questions:

• What does this mean for my project?
• What should I pay attention to?
• What should I do next? If people can act on the result, it’s useful.If they need an analyst to decode it, it’s not.

This is where value will shift:from holding data to helping people make sense of it.

The Simple Truth

Here is the idea, in blunt terms:

**AI doesn’t take value away.**It just exposes when there wasn’t much value to begin with.

When the shortcuts disappear, the real work shows.

And that work — creating something that genuinely helps someone — is the only business model left.