The Last 5%: Your Path to Opportunity in an AI-Driven World
AI is the talk of the town, the game-changer everyone’s buzzing about. And while it’s set to transform everything, remember revolutions are marathons, not sprints. So, it’s time to lace up your shoes and get ready for the journey.
The Last Mile Problem
Imagine you’re running a marathon. The first 25 miles? Tough, but doable. It’s that last mile that separates the finishers from the rest, and you are in that last mile of using AI. To conquer the last mile requires a lot of grit, focus and determination.
95% Isn’t Good Enough
My team works on invoice token extraction. Our AI models are impressive — 95% accuracy! Sounds great, right? But here’s the problem: ask a business if they’re okay with 5 out of 100 invoices being wrong. The answer? A resounding “No way!” And that’s the challenge: 95% just isn’t good enough.
The Zero Mistake Zone
In some areas, 99% isn’t even good enough. Take self-driving cars. Google started this journey in 2009 and in the very first year it logged 140k autonomous driving miles. Fifteen years later, we’re still not there. Why? Because in this game you cannot afford to make a single mistake, one mistake can be catastrophic. It took years to tackle the last 1%. We can see Tesla and Waymo catching up, and once they do, it will be revolutionary.
The Patience Game
AI is coming. It’s going to reshape our world. But for critical tasks where failure isn’t an option, we’re playing the long game. It’s not about the first 95% — it’s about conquering that final 5%, and then the last 1%.
This journey requires patience and resilience. Companies and CEOs looking for quick wins need to embrace the process, allowing teams to learn, experiment, and yes, even fail. It’s through these trials that true innovation emerges.
Your Move
The real action is in that last 5%, even the final 1%. That’s where the future jobs and opportunities will be. These are tough problems to solve, problems that AI needs your help. It’s time for us to focus, level up, to learn new skills. For the remaining 95% — the routine stuff like building basic apps, web development, testing, and database work — AI is already there and changing the game. Leverage AI for all the mundane tasks and focus on the last 5%. The question is: are you ready to change with it? Because if you don’t, the change will happen without you.
Remember:
Progress isn’t always a straight line. But those who stick around for the whole marathon. They’re the ones who cross the finish line.
