Seriously Agile

Seriously Agile

Menu
AI Is the New Infrastructure
And You’re Already Living In It.

Why AI Is the New Infrastructure — And What That Means for You (Even If You Just Want a House, a Job, or Some Stability)

By Shabir Mustehsan, Founder, Seriously Agile

Let’s say you’re not a machine learning engineer.
You’re not fine-tuning foundation models or building AI apps.
You’re just trying to build a life—buy a house, land a decent job, maybe keep the one you already have.

So why should you care about artificial intelligence?

Because AI is no longer just a tech trend—it’s becoming the new infrastructure:
The invisible system shaping how money, information, decisions, and opportunity move in the world.

Ignoring it now is like ignoring electricity in the 1920s or the internet in 1999.

🧱 What Does “AI as Infrastructure” Really Mean?

It means AI isn’t just another app. It’s becoming the backbone of modern life.

  • Hiring? AI filters resumes.

  • Loans? AI scores your credit.

  • Healthcare? AI reads your scans.

  • News? AI personalizes your feed.

  • Work? AI writes, calculates, predicts, optimizes.

If the internet was plumbing, AI is electricity—it flows through everything. You won’t always see it, but you’re living inside it.

💼 AI Is Already Deciding Whether You Get—or Keep—Your Job

Here’s the uncomfortable truth:
Even if you don’t work in AI, it’s starting to work on you.

  • Your job application? Screened by an algorithm.

  • Your promotion? Ranked by pattern-matching models.

  • Your role? Labeled “automatable” by vendors you’ve never heard of.

The question isn’t whether AI will change your job.
It’s whether you’ll shape that change—or just react to it.

🏡 What Happens When Labor Shrinks But Costs Don’t?

Imagine a world where:

  • Half of all jobs are automated.

  • Universal basic income exists, but rent, healthcare, and education stay expensive.

  • The jobs that remain are flooded with competition—driving wages down.

Even if you’re not replaced, you’re now competing with AI-augmented workers.

And if work has always been tied to purpose and identity—what happens when that’s gone?

⚔️ The Power Layer: Compute, Narrative, and Control

AI doesn’t just change industries. It changes who holds power.

1. Compute = Strategic Leverage

Nations and companies that control GPUs and semiconductors will control AI’s future.
This is why chip wars are the new oil wars.

2. Narrative = Cultural Authority

AI is mastering language—scripts, news, marketing, textbooks.
If machines tell better stories than us, who gets to define truth, loyalty, or value?

As I often say: “In the AI age, the power to shape perception is the power to govern behavior.” — Shabir Mustehsan

3. Control = Governance Vacuum

Right now, AI decisions are made in closed rooms by tech giants and governments.
Most people—and industries—aren’t in that room.

🎯 So What Do You Do If You’re Not “In AI”?

Good news: you don’t need to become a machine learning expert.

But you do need to be AI curious.

Because the biggest difference between those who thrive in the next decade and those who get left behind won’t be technical skill.
It’ll be exposure, experimentation, and instinct.

🎮 The AI Curiosity Game Plan

Because being curious today gives you leverage tomorrow.

✅ Step 1: Pick One Tool and Use It

  • Write your next cold email with ChatGPT.

  • Summarize a meeting using Claude.

  • Use Perplexity to prep for a pitch.

  • Visualize ideas with Midjourney or Ideogram.

  • Have GPT audit your resume or job description.

If it saves you 30 minutes once, it can save you 5 hours a week. Lean in.

📖 Step 2: Follow 3 AI-Doers, Not Just AI-Talkers

Start with:

  • @sama (Sam Altman) – Founder Open AI (They created ChatGPT)

  • @swyx (Shawn Wang) – Practical integration insights

  • @SarahGuo / @a16z / @BenBajarin – Ecosystem builders

Also: Find one person using AI in your exact industry and study them.

🧠 Step 3: Ask “What Would This Look Like in My World?”

Start small:

  • Could this automate a chunk of my workflow?

  • Could this boost decision-making?

  • Could I use this to help someone else win?

This is how infrastructure gets built: quietly, bit by bit, by people who are paying attention.

🧭 Final Thought: This Is Your “2005 Moment”

Back when social media felt like a toy, a few people got curious—and reshaped industries.

Now, it’s happening again.

Our parents bought land.
We’ll need to claim space in the infrastructure of intelligence, creativity, and control.

That means knowing how AI works.
It means showing up.
It means caring—before you have no choice.

Because if we don’t help build the roads,
We’ll just be routed down someone else’s.

Scroll to Top