Love in the Age of AI: The One Thing Algorithms Can't Fake

Everyone’s asking the wrong question about AI: “What can it do?” “How should we use it?” “Where will it take us?”

Steve Jobs understood something about technology that matters now more than ever. When Apple’s iPod dominated the MP3 player market, Microsoft launched the Zune to compete. On paper, the features were comparable. Yet the Zune failed.

Jobs explained why:

“The people at Microsoft don’t really love music or art the way we do. We won because we personally love music... If you don’t love something, you’re not going to go the extra mile, work the extra weekend, challenge the status quo as much.”

That truth applies to AI just as much as it did to portable music players back then. Because in an age when large language models can generate “average” knowledge instantly, the only thing that sets you apart is the conviction you bring.

Real Examples from the AI Era

• Russ Somers got tired of hearing about corporate workflows. Instead, he built an AI-powered guitar tutor because he actually cares about guitar. While others asked, “What’s the best AI use case?” Russ turned to the guitars on his wall for inspiration—and ended up creating something far more personal, and therefore far more powerful.

• Nicholas Thorne put it bluntly: if you aren’t an authentic participant in the community you hope to serve, you’ll get “competed away by the low-cost version of average knowledge.” And in an AI world, “average knowledge” is practically free. Anyone can prompt ChatGPT for a generic meal plan. Only someone who genuinely disagrees with the run-of-the-mill approach to family meals will create something worth paying for.

• Jenny Nicholson urges us to “bring our humanity to the model,” because what’s inside the AI isn’t new; it’s an average of everything that’s already out there. Your unique take—your sense of humor, your point of view, your vehement disagreement with “the usual”—is the only novelty AI can’t generate alone.

Passion, Not Features

It’s the difference between what Nick calls an “MBA idea”—driven by market analyses and ROI calculations—and a passion-driven idea that makes you stay up late perfecting it. Steve Jobs loved music. Jeff Bezos lived books—scribbling ideas in the margins so intently that every page of his copy of How Buildings Learn was covered with notes. That’s not just market research. That’s love.

In the AI age, that kind of love is more important than ever. Because now anyone can generate “good enough” solutions with a few prompts. But people want more than good enough. When average is free, only above-average passion will stand out.

Your Next Move

Stop asking “Which AI use case will yield the highest ROI?” It’s the same mistake Microsoft made with the Zune, focusing on specs instead of soul. In five years, there will be two kinds of people: those who’ve used AI to amplify what they actually love, and those who’ve used AI to paper over the fact that they don’t.

So here’s what to do:

1. Write down what you genuinely care about. If you’re not sure, consider what lights you up—or what drives you crazy.

2. Pinpoint a place where you disagree with the “average” approach. If ChatGPT can do it without your help, it’s not worth building.

3. Start there—not with market size or ROI spreadsheets. Let your conviction guide the technology, not the other way around.

Because when algorithms generate anything “average” with ease, only above-average passion—combined with human disagreement—will create real value.

In other words, don’t ask: “What can AI do?”
Ask: “What do I love enough to push AI beyond ‘average’?”

If your answer is “I don’t know,” you’re already behind.

Related: Kindle What You Love
Related: Beyond the Prompt: Nicholas Thorne
Related: Beyond the Prompt: Jenny Nicholson
Related: Beyond the Prompt: Russ Somers

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