The Intelligence Era: My AI North Star

TL;DR

AI today is noisy - hyped, hyped again, and tangled in fear and confusion. But beneath the buzz lies a very real shift: the transition from solely bespoke creation to everyday configuration. My North Star is simple: stay grounded, focus on value, and empower the business to use AI wisely, every day - across every function, not just in labs. This isn't about replacing technologists — it's about evolving our role, enabling others, and quietly leading the shift. This is the Intelligence Era — and we're already in it.

Making AI Normal

AI is having its Cloud moment.

Like Cloud in the mid-2010s, it's talked about everywhere, and yet still misunderstood. We're being hit by a tidal wave of hype, inflated promises, and looming uncertainties. It's messy. It's noisy. And it's easy to get distracted.

So, what do we do?

We look through it. We stay focused on what actually delivers value.

Two Pillars: Create and Configure

I see we now have two distinct - but connected - pillars of AI:

1. Create - The traditional world: bespoke model-building, deep data science, and custom solutions. Complex, high-value, solid - decades in the making - body of knowledge, and still essential, but not always the fastest path to impact.

2. Configure - The emerging space: platforms like Microsoft Copilot Studio, Salesforce Einstein, and ServiceNow AI. These tools let business teams build what they need directly in their business platforms - no specialist required.

We're not replacing one with the other. We're layering them. The real opportunity is in using both wisely.

Creation Is Evolving, Not Ending

The rise of Configure doesn't make Create obsolete - it reshapes it.

We're seeing AI used to build AI. Agents writing agents. Copilots generating code. ChatGPT designing entire data workflows. What once required weeks of expert effort can now be kicked off with a prompt - the specialist now has digital colleagues to extend their capabilities, and remove drudge.

But this shift doesn't mean we're phasing out technologists. Quite the opposite. Their role is evolving - from just builders to enablers, from just hands-on to hands-around. As Microsoft says in their Future of Work research - evolving towards being the Boss of your own AI cohort. We still need architects and engineers to ensure quality, security, ethics, integration. They're the ones who guide the use of these new tools responsibly and effectively - AI Bosses.

This is not a sunset on our roles. It's a horizon expanding.

Empowering the Organisation

The real power of AI emerges when it's not a separate task, but part of how people work every day - AI is normal.

We're already seeing it:

• Marketers tracking AEO (Answer Engine Optimisation) alongside SEO.
• Contact centres building their own service copilots tailored to their flow.
• Analysts skipping dashboards and just asking the question they need.

This is AI as a digital co-worker - useful, embedded, and quietly transformational.

And behind all of this? Technical teams making sure it's stable, secure, compliant, value-driving, and scalable. We aren't stepping away. We're making the magic invisible - and that's what unlocks safe scale.

Making AI Normal

We're entering the Intelligence Era.

Not someday. Now. Our kids are native to this world already. For them, asking an AI is as normal as using a search bar. That same normalisation is coming to the workplace - and fast.

Just like Cloud, AI is becoming an expected part of every tool, every flow, every decision. That doesn't make it simple. It makes it foundational.

And just like with Cloud, we need technology teams more than ever - to lead, to safeguard, to guide, and to empower. It's our job to make this feel simple without making it simplistic, and then step out of the way of the business we have empowered.

What Good Looks Like

Good AI is invisible.

It's there when you need it. It's part of the work. It's trustworthy, predictable, and boring in the best way.

You don't need to "go use AI". It's just baked in. Like spellcheck. Like autocomplete. Like cloud sync. Like Instagram recommendations!

And one day, yes, we might not need AI strategy leads anymore 🤔. Not because we've lost relevance, but because we've won. Because it's working.

Final Thought: The North Star

This is the shift:

From AI as experiment to AI as expectation. From labs and pilots to frontline productivity. From tech-led disruption to business-embedded value.

My North Star is simple:

Use AI wisely. Empower everyone. Make it normal, invisible - and make it work.

That's how we lead in the Intelligence Era.

Photo by Fred Moon: Unsplash