Will it play in Peoria? That’s the old showbiz question that early radio and vaudeville producers would ask themselves to gauge whether a show would resonate with Middle America or only be a hit with urban aesthetes and coastal elites.

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It’s a question we all have to start asking ourselves as a gut-check on AI’s ability to connect with the average consumer and deliver an experience that consumers deeply desire.

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Many AI founders and investors are still building for the power users and tinkerers who just bought their fifth Mac mini.

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Sometimes, we build a little too much for Palo Alto and not enough for Peoria.

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Today’s agentic tools are as kludgy as they will ever be. They will get more user-friendly, more intuitive, and more obvious. And yes, we had to build the models and infrastructure before we could build for the masses. But their time is next and now. The night-shift nurse and the grandmother and the high school sophomore are all going to need to use AI in ways no one is building for yet.

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But we risk making people hate AI before they have the chance to love it.

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Read the rest on the Cake Mix Substack

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