No. But someone who does know what to do with A.I and robots, will. There will always be casualty with disruptive technologiesbut If we look back through time, every disruptive technology has resulted in nothing less than exponential growth for humanity.

I can’t remember a time when we have witnessed two such extraordinary and disruptive technologies emerging simultaneously—technologies that once existed only in science fiction: “Assisted” Intelligence (A.I.) and the Robotic Revolution.

Far beyond the media hype of an A.I. and robotics takeover or fleets of Chinooks dropping concrete slabs in your backyard for a datacenter—technology is rarely the monster under the bed. The embedded video is a parody which captures this perfectly, leaning on the classic fable of the scorpion and the frog. Technology will continuously reshape our tools, but it will never alter the fundamental nature of humanity.

PART I: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

While A.I. creates mass displacement paranoia, it sparks multi-billion-dollar niche plays to those who can see both sides of the Necker Cube. It is the entrepreneur who capitalizes directly on this shift of economy for they can see optimization, transformation, integration, anxiety management, and synthetic infrastructure as an opportunity, while others see doom.

Sadly, the dystopian view of A.I. imposed upon society by power hungry politicians and click-addicted media outlets will further widen the gap of those who have and those who have not. But here is what cannot be contained: there are no set rules or socio-economic walls preventing anyone from seeing what the entrepreneurs see, and through “Assisted” Intelligence, a person can achieve that same success, .

Recently, my wife and I were in Manhattan–– a place we lived for 35 years–– and one thing stood out from all the controlled chaos: every single human, be it tourist, local, or transient, had a smartphone in hand. It is that smartphone coupled with an idea which can lift anyone–– regardless of their socioeconomic status–– into the stratosphere.

How many times have we heard from those who have reached monumental success: Follow your dreams. Turn those ideas into a passion and you too will be successful.

With just a smartphone, those ideas can now be realized much more easily through the tools of A.I. and it does not take a PhD candidate to come up with an idea, code it, legally own it, create it and sell it. A simple prompt in any of the commercially available chatbots today can reveal lists of single person startups who have reached millions in Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR).

Case in point: While walking our usual 14K daily steps in Manhattan (yes, we love to walk in the city), i noticed there were countless, multi-colored, coin-sized medallions embedded into the street near the curbs and every crosswalk. At first I through these were walking tourist map blaze markers or modern graffiti tags, but when I used Google’s Gemini to identify these medallions, I learned they were utility markers, indicating gas, electric, cable, etc. This is where once again, the Necker Cube comes into play, allowing me to see an opportunity to capitalize on the use of these markers–– something already in place saving thousands of hours of installations and legal battles of getting these markers into place. I learned there was no single, public map of these markers because New York City’s sub-surface infrastructure is owned and managed by dozens of different entities (i.e. ConEd, Verizon, NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Empire City Subway, private telecom fiber providers, and city surveyors), utility mapping is fragmented and protected for security and operational reasons. What I did find (using A.I.) was the color coding of these markers:

• Red: Electric power lines, cables, conduit, and lighting NYC 311 – NYC.gov
• Yellow: Gas, oil, steam, or gaseous materials NYC 311 – NYC.gov
• Orange: Communications, alarm/signal lines, fiber optics, or cable TV
• Blue: Potable water NYC 311 – NYC.gov
• Green: Sewer and drain lines NYC 311 – NYC.gov
• Pink: Temporary survey markings / benchmarks NYC 311 – NYC.gov
• Purple: Reclaimed water or slurry lines NYC 311 – NYC.gov

I see a massive, untapped app opportunity here. Most street-level tech games like Pokémon GO, focus on generic GPS points, and walking tours rely on looking up at tall buildings. Nobody is looking down. Turning street utility markers into a gamified experience taps into AR technology, micro-history, and urban exploration.

Using my smartphone, I enlisted A.I. to come up with such an opportunity. This is what a smartphone plus an idea and can do. I truly hope someone runs with this idea and makes it big. I will be ther first to sign up.

Concept A: “Underground NYC: The Subterranean Grid Game”

• The Pitch: A location-based puzzle/AR game where tourists reveal the hidden, invisible world beneath their feet.
• The Gameplay:
  • Color Decoding: The app sets tasks based on marker colors. Finding a blue cap unlocks a puzzle about NYC’s 100-year-old water tunnels; finding an orange cap drops a challenge about the early telegraph lines.
  • Grid Connection: Players “connect” markers on their phone map like circuit boards to restore power or water to historical NYC districts.

Concept B: “Chasing the Grid (The 1811 Survey)”

• The Pitch: A historical detective game focused specifically on brass survey monuments and historic grid bolts.
• The Gameplay: Tourists step into the shoes of John Randel Jr. (the original surveyor who mapped Manhattan’s grid in 1811). Players hunt for rare, surviving brass survey markers embedded in concrete, scan them via the camera, and align historic 19th-century maps with modern street views.

2. Gameplay Mechanics & Features

• Computer Vision / AR Scanning: Using the phone’s camera, players scan physical metal markers on the sidewalk. AI image recognition identifies the utility logo (e.g., ConEd, Empire City Subway, DEP, ECS) or color, instantly playing a sound effect (steaming pipes, electric buzz, flowing water) and bringing up an interactive 3D model of what lies 10 feet under that exact spot.
• “Friction Rubbing” AR Collection: Just as tourists do paper rubbings of gravestones, players can use their screen to digitally “rub” and collect unique brass caps, building a virtual inventory of historic street markers.
• Territory Control & Streaks: Neighborhoods like Greenwich Village or Wall Street feature dense clusters of unique markers. Players earn badges (“Grid Master of SoHo”, “Subterranean Explorer”) based on how many distinct utility systems they discover.

3. Monetization & Business Models

• B2C (In-App Purchases / Freemium): Free access to self-guided basic walks (e.g., “The Financial District Circuit”). Unlocking themed narrative packs (e.g., “The Ghost Utilities of Gilded Age NYC” or “Disaster Prevention Trail”) costs $2.99–$4.99 per quest.
• B2B Local Partnerships: Partner with local coffee shops, storefronts, or microbreweries near specific historic markers. Completing a string of markers rewards players with a discount code at a local spot, driving real-world foot traffic.
• Educational / Museum Licensing: License white-label versions to urban design institutions (like the Center for Architecture or the Museum of the City of New York) for educational field trips.

4. Technical Feasibility & MVP

Building a full map from scratch is hard, but a minimal viable product (MVP) is straightforward:

1. Curate a Micro-Route: Select a high-density, historic 10-block radius (e.g., Lower Manhattan near Stone Street and Wall Street).
2. Crowdsource the Database: Build a web-view app where early users drop pins and upload photos of interesting markers to generate the game map over time.
3. Use WebAR: Avoid high initial app store friction by using WebAR (camera access via mobile browser) to recognize marker logos and display subterranean 3D graphics.

PART II: THE ROBOTIC REVOLUTION

Robots won’t be limited to hardware. There will be digital versions—called agents—far more capable than today’s Siri or Alexa: true cyber butlers that can manage your administrative life, anticipate your needs, and handle the mundane tasks that consume our time, freeing you to focus on what makes life richer and more meaningful.

This emerging niche offers almost unimaginable opportunities for those who can see beyond A.I.’s simple prompts and recognize the agent economy taking shape. I believe people will eventually buy, sell, trade, and customize agents much as they change accessories or clothing today—selecting different agents for different roles, personalities, skills, and occasions.

As for the hardware versions of robotics, those made of hardware, will eventualy break, get dirty, lose calibration, need training and need real-world logistics. And just like A.I., there are multi-billion dollar niche plays here.

• Autopreneur: Micro Livery passenger pick-up and last mile delivery service: In five years, once the technology is proven out, the possibility of someone buying a fsmall leet of electric cars with robots behind the wheel tto serve dual purpose. The car can pick up a passenger, while the robot can load/unload luggage. When not shuttling passengers, the service can be used for delivery, where the last mile (stairs) can be managed by the robot behind the wheel.

• Robotic Fleet Salvage & Secondary Market Arbitrage: As companies buy multi-million-dollar automated fleets (cobots, warehouse autonomous mobile robots, specialized rovers) and fail or upgrade, who buys the legacy hardware? Sourcing, refurbishing, and reselling second-hand industrial robotics to mid-tier businesses that can’t afford brand-new automation is a high-margin business.
• “Last-Yard” Integration Consultancy: Major vendors sell the robot, but they don’t solve the messy reality of a client’s old building, uneven floors, or weird loading dock geometry. Niche integrators step in to modify physical spaces specifically so off-the-shelf robots don’t get stuck or fail.
• Robotic Sanitization & Environmental Maintenance: Optical sensors, LiDAR, and camera-based vision systems fail when covered in grease, micro-dust, or road salt. Specialized mobile cleaning/calibration services that service commercial drone and ground-robot fleets on a recurring contract model.

2. The Human & Psychological Plays (Fear & Transition)

Fear drives massive spending. When workers and executives panic about replacement, you monetize the transition.

• “Human-in-the-Loop” Insurance & Audit: Companies want to replace human workers, but compliance, liability, and union regulations stop them. An entrepreneurial firm offers “Human Safety Auditing”—testing automated workflows to certify legally required human-oversight ratios, shielding corporate clients from catastrophic liability.
• Automation Displacement Placement & Retraining Retainers: B2B agency that sells directly to corporations undergoing mass automation. Instead of paying massive severance or facing PR nightmares, companies pay you a retainer to take displaced mid-level workers and rapidly convert them into robot operators, supervisors, or local hardware techs.
• The “100% Human-Sourced” Certification Bureau: The organic food movement of the labor market. Creating an audit and badging authority (think Fair Trade or USDA Organic for service businesses, marketing agencies, and craft goods) that verifies zero AI or robotics were used in production, allowing brands to charge a premium to anti-automation consumers.

3. The Operational & Technical Plays (Niche Software/Data)

Robots don’t understand context or edge cases without specialized human intervention.

• Edge-Case Teleoperation Services (The “Remote Joystick” Agency): Autonomous delivery or cleaning robots hit edge cases (a fallen branch, a weird reflection, a construction cone) and freeze. Rather than building $100M AI, build an on-demand, remote-human call center where operators take control of a frozen robot for 15 seconds to navigate the obstacle and hand control back to the AI.
• Synthetic Edge-Case Data Brokerage: Robots fail because they haven’t seen weird real-world physical scenarios. A niche startup that films, models, or synthetically generates hyper-specific edge-case physics data (e.g., “robotic arms gripping wet glass in low light”) and sells it to AI robotics developers.

In Summary

In the end, we have a choice. We can look at A.I. and robotics and see only the dystopian future: machines replacing workers, intelligent systems beyond our control, robots transforming society in ways that are difficult to comprehend. Or we can recognize that we are standing at the beginning of one of the most extraordinary technological transformations in human history—and choose to ride the crest of the wave rather than be swept away by it.

I truly believe we are witnessing something different from the technological revolutions that came before. The personal computer gave us access to information. The internet connected us to the world. Smartphones put that connectivity in our pockets. But A.I. has the potential to become something far more personal: an intellectual and operational extension of ourselves.

And robotics may take that one step further by giving A.I. a physical presence in the real world.

The opportunities are enormous for those willing to look beyond the simple prompt-and-response model of A.I. Most people are still using these systems as glorified search engines or digital writing assistants. That is only the beginning. The real transformation comes when you begin to understand Agents, Skills, and Loops.

Think of them as your personal minions—digital workers that can perform specialized tasks, learn your preferences, work together, and operate continuously with far less supervision than today’s conventional software. An agent might research a subject, another might analyze the information, another might organize it, and yet another might turn the result into something you can use. What once required a team of people may increasingly be accomplished by an individual directing a team of intelligent digital workers.

And this is where things get particularly exciting.

There will not only be physical robots. There will be a vast ecosystem of digital agents—cyber butlers, researchers, marketers, financial analysts, programmers, personal assistants, creative partners and countless other specialized intelligences. I believe people will eventually buy, sell, trade, customize, and collect agents much as they change clothing or accessories today. Different agents for different jobs. Different personalities for different situations. A constantly evolving digital wardrobe of intelligence.

For anyone willing to learn how these systems actually work, the barriers to entry are surprisingly low. You don’t need to be a computer scientist. You don’t need a million-dollar laboratory. There are already countless ways to experiment, learn, and become proficient—many of them free or nearly free. But you need to start using it, make mistakes, try again, make more mistakes and keep at it.

One of my favorite ways to get a glimpse of what is possible is following Mariah Brunner on her website as well as on Facebook Reels. She demonstrates practical ways of using A.I. that go well beyond typing a prompt and waiting for an answer. Her content offers a useful introduction to the emerging world of agents, skills, and automated loops—and, importantly, gives you ideas you can begin experimenting with yourself. Her knowledge is encompassing and I am sure her agents will have scraped my post the moment I click [Publish]. That is te level of understanding you will need to keep your job or…. take your boss’s…..

The point isn’t to become an A.I. expert overnight. The point is to start thinking differently.

Don’t ask only, “What can I ask A.I.?”

Start asking, “What can I get A.I. to do?”

That subtle change in thinking opens an entirely different world.

Use these technologies as leverage. Let your agents handle the tedious work. Let your skills give them specialized capabilities. Let your loops keep processes moving without requiring your constant attention. Think of them as your digital workforce—your minions—working behind the scenes while you concentrate on the things only you can provide: your imagination, your judgment, your curiosity, your relationships, and your dreams.

The future doesn’t belong exclusively to the people who build A.I. It may belong just as much to the people who learn how to orchestrate it.

So don’t simply watch the A.I. and robotic revolutions unfold.

Learn them. Experiment with them. Put them to work.

Follow your dreams. Turn your ideas into passions. Turn those passions into action—and use these extraordinary new tools to give yourself leverage that previous generations could never have imagined.

The choice is ultimately yours: fear the future, or help create it.