The business-journalism student is excited about the next frontier

When Stevie Wonder got access to the synthesizer, it was a game changer for his obsessive creativity. This is a similar trajectory I see for many creatives with the new AI tools.

Stevie was so cultured and so creative, and now with the synthesizer, he had access the tools he always needed. This was an unbounded way he could express creativity.

In a four year series, he wrote and played over 250 songs, leading to four albums, several platinum and grammy awards, almost a dozen hits... and his greatest album (or fifth in the series): "Songs in the Key of Life."

(Hits in the "Songs in the Key of Life" album: Sir Duke, Isn't She Lovely, I Wish, As, Knocks Me Off My Feet, Another Star.)

Stevie Wonder discovers the synthesizer here.

For the people who love technology and are curiosity-driven, now is the time to be "Stevie Wonder with the synthesizer."

A lot of people are scared about AI, but we tend to see this tick of human nature every time something exciting comes along: FEAR.

A lot of people were scared about computers. A lot of people were scared about rock ‘n’ roll. A lot of people were scared about a lot of things. Humans rarely welcome disruption.

It’s the people who are optimistic and exposed to culture. The people who are crafty and detail-oriented. The people waiting for the tools they needed to get to building. They needed a "right-place, right-time" moment, and that moment is here and now.

Steve Jobs had a quote about the people who worked on the first Macintosh, and I believe he mentioned the type of people who will lead this next chapter of AI startups.

“Part of what made the Macintosh great was that the people working on it were musicians, poets and artists and zoologists and historians who also happened to be the best computer scientists in the world.”

Steve Jobs says it here. (Hint: watch the rest of the interview.)

It’s people who were at the frontier and were cultured who often built the most important products. It’s the ones who cared so much about people and understood what people liked. They had good taste. They had good judgment. They weren't thinking about money, instead purely energizing themselves with their golden opportunity.

I’m excited about all the artists that will appear through this bubble of excitement and rapid innovation. I expect a lot of creatives will appear in a spontaneous showing of “overnight success” stories.

The artists are out there waiting to get access to tools. The question is: who’s gonna get access?

Stevie didn't wait around for the synthesizer, no. As blind has he was, he made his way to a door, knocking on Memorial Day weekend in late May, 1971.

According to legend, Stevie arrived at the midtown Manhattan apartment wearing a pistachio jumpsuit, holding the album Zero Time by TONTO’s Expanding Head Band.

He was there for TONTO’s Expanding Head Band. He heard their synthesizer in the album. He wanted to see how the mesmerizing sounds on the record were made. The owner of the shop saw Stevie through his window from the above apartment and let him in.

That knock set off a chain of events, leading to a creative run of five albums in four years. Critiques argue this was one of the greatest creative music-runs in history, only tied or second to The Beatles.

While others are adjusting to AI, we’re gonna be building. You don’t need to build the next Steve Jobs or Sam Altman company.

Make stuff.