Even my colleagues and I, who struggle daily with machines that still mistake cats for dogs and generate every sort of hallucination imaginable, sometimes feel afraid of the future—afraid of the consequences when these machines become the magic tools we believe they were created to be. For all of us who have felt that fear, recent studies, starting with the work of the 2025 Nobel Prize winners in economics, offer a ray of hope.
The theories of the laureates Joel Mokyr, Philippe Aghion, and Peter Howitt explain exactly this. From a macroeconomic point of view, they show how the evolution of technology, embraced by an open society, allows the economy to grow. They also explain how creative destruction—the process where innovation replaces old models by destroying the past to open ways for the new—allows wealth to change hands, market leaders to be replaced, and the economy to expand.
Reading this instantly reminded me of the genius who described this phenomenon from a microeconomic, company-level point of view: Clayton Christensen and his book, The Innovator's Dilemma.
The digital camera destroyed Kodak. This innovation, which in the beginning presented poor image quality but offered a new structure without film and developing, changed everything. (It's possible you don't even know that photography once had to be developed and printed on paper). Yes, people at Kodak lost their jobs. Yes, some photographers lost their jobs. But yes, never before has the world taken so many photos. This means new jobs, from tech developers to influencers and, believe it or not, photographers and filmmakers for those influencers.
The Innovator's Dilemma explains how creative destruction happens in real life—how a new idea, born with a distinct value proposition, can rise and overcome the big players. The film camera's resolution was equivalent to 200 megapixels. Only recently have digital cameras with that resolution become available to everyone. But obviously, that wasn't the motivation that changed the entire market. Anyone who loves photography and is old enough to have taken a picture and waited for days to see the result knows exactly why the digital camera destroyed the film industry.
And in one of Christensen's last books before his passing, The Prosperity Paradox, he discusses exactly how innovation can lift nations out of poverty.
As an AI Product Manager, Consultant, and Entrepreneur, I believe in the value that Artificial Intelligence can generate for those who embrace innovation. We are just in the beginning, dealing with innovations that completely change the market (like Deep Seek), high levels of hallucination (see OpenAI's reports), and high failure rates when trying to implement AI in companies (see the MIT Report). But, I've seen firsthand how AI creates value in products that can do what humans can't (see articles about products I developed). I believe we will see the rise of incredible companies that use AI to enhance the most human characteristics of humankind, creating value, contributing to reducing poverty, and making all our lives better.
Nobel Prize winners:
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/economic-sciences/2025/press-release/
Clayton Christensen Innovators Dilemma
https://books.google.com.br/books/about/The_Innovator_s_Dilemma.html
Clayton Christensen Prosperity Paradox
https://books.google.com.br/books/about/The_Prosperity_Paradox.html
OpenAI ChatGPT System Card (Hallucination Level)
https://cdn.openai.com/pdf/2221c875-02dc-4789-800b-e7758f3722c1/o3-and-o4-mini-system-card.pdf
MIT Report:
https://projnanda.github.io/projnanda/#/
https://fortune.com/2025/08/18/mit-report-95-percent-generative-ai-pilots-at-companies-failing-cfo/
Examples of Products (where we created value):
iFood - Estimated Time of Arrival (in Portuguese):
https://medium.com/ifood-tech/tempos-entenda-como-utilizamos-intelig%C3%AAncia-artificial-para-prever-a-hora-da-chegada-da-sua-comida-bc0a1d4b26e8
iFood - Growth Forecast (in Portuguese):
https://medium.com/ifood-tech/desafios-de-sensoriamento-remoto-e-intelig%C3%AAncia-artificial-no-ifood-b0f04a5abc69
Travel Therapy AI / viagemterap.ia.br - AI Agent for Content Creation:
https://medium.com/travel-therapy-ai/ever-dreamed-of-bringing-your-creations-to-life-using-ai-and-ai-agents-086782b28bae