This Week's Focus ⤵️
Elections reflect local realities in the hearts and minds of people.
AI accelerates shifts in productivity.
Value creation endures as a hallmark of flourishing societies.
Opportunities await those who adapt.
Good morning, esteemed readers and people of the Internet. I hope you’re geared up for Friday.
I’m not a politician and I don’t want this to be about politics. I am, however, qualified to talk about how AI is reshaping industries, jobs, and opportunity. I’ve spent many years in this space since my early 20s and have worked in AI since George W. Bush was president and Michael Bloomberg was the mayor of New York City, so I’ve seen a lot of change and I’m watching it accelerate across nearly every sector right now.
With Zohran Mamdani winning the New York City mayoral race, a Democratic Socialist now leads the country’s largest city. That result captures the significant anxiety around things like housing affordability and economic opportunity, and raises practical questions about how policy will meet technological change and opportunity.
On air the morning after the election, George Stephanopoulos framed the mood of the NYC voters who elected Mamdani succinctly:
“Voters want change, the top of the wealth distribution is doing well, and middle- and working-class families are wrestling with affordability.”
I’m going to connect that NYC voter mood to what’s happening in AI and how these forces are likely to keep accelerating. There are direct implications for business and government leaders on how AI will continue to reshape the economy, productivity, and the nature of work itself.
Diving Deeper 🤿
The AI Perception Gap
A growing number of Americans feel shut out of the economy, and many are. Add to that a long tail of mostly younger would-be content creators spending countless hours on social media for entertainment while only a small fraction see any real income from such activities. It’s not the only reason for political dissatisfaction, but it’s a clear misalignment between time spent and genuine value creation.
The so-called creator economy can look like freedom, but for 99 percent of participants, it’s distraction from creating value some other way. When most people are consumers of entertainment rather than contributors to production, frustration grows.
AI now magnifies this divide: enterprises and skilled operators are capturing extraordinary gains, while millions spend their time scrolling, reacting, and producing fleeting content instead of developing durable skills.
AI will continue to add dramatic value to some, while others may be less and less relevant in the absence of a concerted effort at learning new skills.
At Sprinklenet, we focus on how AI creates tangible value inside enterprises, and it does. The productivity upside is enormous. But millions remain unequipped to participate in this new economy, and the disillusionment grows with every viral trend that replaces learning or building. When people don’t see a clear path to create and capture value, voting for radical change starts to feel rational.
Where AI Actually Bites, and Where It Builds
Two of my relatives recently lost jobs that are now handled by AI-powered systems. That’s the reality for many in customer service, software, and administrative roles.
But there’s another reality too, one where efficiency, scale, and new markets open up for those who adapt.
Automation Scope: McKinsey projects that roughly 30 percent of U.S. work hours could be automated by 2030. That’s disruptive but manageable if we invest in upskilling and move quickly.
Productivity Lift: Developers using GitHub Copilot completed tasks 55.8 percent faster in controlled trials, a measurable leap in output that compounds across teams.
Capital Flows: The U.S. poured 109 billion dollars into private AI investment in 2024, nearly twelve times China’s total. The money is following to value creation, and it’s accelerating.
AI is Also Creating Hands-On Jobs Right Now
Training and inference require concrete, steel, power, and people. Data center buildouts are generating high-quality jobs for skilled trades and long-term site operations.
Wisconsin: Microsoft’s AI campus remains on track to begin operations in early 2026, with total in-state investment now above seven billion dollars.
West Texas: CoreWeave and Poolside are bringing more than forty thousand next-gen NVIDIA GPUs online beginning December 2025, with a multi-phase campus buildout.
Indiana: Meta’s Jeffersonville campus supports about 1,250 peak construction jobs and more than 100 permanent roles once operational.
Core Principles in Practice 💡
City Playbook for New York
If you’re Mayor-elect Mamdani, here are a few ideas on how to pair affordability goals with a skills-and-productivity agenda.
Stand up paid apprenticeships tied to employers in data center power, fiber, HVAC, commissioning, and site operations.
Fund night-school tracks for Python, SQL, and LLM skills while allowing agencies to pilot AI for permitting, street operations, and benefits processing.
Clear bottlenecks that hold back new housing and grid upgrades to incentivize local private investments. This is going to be a major challenge, so you’re going to need to incentivize investors in such projects.
Run public campaigns that encourage residents to spend fewer hours consuming entertainment and more hours learning skills that create market value. Productive citizens who create value strengthen a city’s tax base and social fabric.
A Simple Map of Genuine Value Creation
Real progress comes from producing, fixing, teaching, coding, or building something that others depend on.
Type | Value To Others | Lasting Impact | Examples | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Build | High | High | Apps, Data, Housing, Power | Grows Faster with AI |
Improve | High | Medium | Quality, Safety, Service | Quick ROI, Steady Gains |
Teach | Medium | Medium | Guides, Training, Docs | Scales Teams Fast |
Entertain | Low | Low | Clips, Trends | Fun But Short-Lived |
Show Off | Low | Low | Status Posts | Wastes Time and Focus |
The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.
Prices, Wages, and the Kitchen-Table
Contact Centers: Conversational AI is on track to cut labor costs by about 80 billion dollars by 2026. That pressures some roles while improving service speed if implemented well.
Retail And Groceries: AI forecasting and automation reduce stockouts and shrink, improving availability and lowering waste as major chains scale deployment.
Supply Chains: European grocer Ahold Delhaize is pursuing multibillion-euro savings through AI and automation across logistics and back office, a direct lever on shelf reliability and prices.
Balanced Take on NYC 🗽
Mamdani’s coalition promises action on affordability and inequality. The governing test is whether City Hall can align those goals with conditions that encourage investment, accelerate housing approvals, attract AI-enabled talent, and grow the productive base that funds social services.
Policy should complement, not counter, the engines of value creation.
Let’s see how this plays out.
Jamie Thompson
A Note from Jamie
Productivity isn’t a talking point. It’s the engine of broad prosperity. Most business owners and leaders want faster cycle times, fewer errors, and better outcomes for customers. AI offers that if we build with it. I’m an entrepreneur. I take risks and build things. That equation built America.
We should be careful about policies that blunt incentives for builders while we help more people move into the value-creating side of the economy.
Need Expert Guidance?
Book a focused 1-hour strategy session with Jamie.
✅ Evaluate current architecture and readiness
✅ Identify quick wins and hidden risks
✅ Get tailored, actionable next steps
👇🏼 Book a Strategy Call
What did you think of this week's edition?
2034
