The Adolescence of Technology: Why AI Feels So Unsettled Right Now for Small Businesses

This morning I had the opportunity to deliver my 10 minute presentation at BNI OneFocus at Studley Castle, and it was a real privilege to speak about something that is going to affect every business owner, whether they feel ready for it or not.

That topic is artificial intelligence.

AI has become impossible to ignore. It is no longer something that belongs to Silicon Valley or big tech companies. It is already showing up in everyday business life, from marketing and admin to customer service and automation. The challenge is that for many small and medium sized businesses, it still feels unclear, overwhelming, and difficult to know where to start.

A couple of weeks ago, I read an essay by Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, the company behind Claude AI. The essay is called The Adolescence of Technology, and one phrase stood out immediately. He wrote that we are entering the adolescence of technology.

It is such a simple idea, but it captures this moment perfectly.

AI is like a teenager. It is growing up incredibly fast. It is powerful. It is unpredictable. It can do impressive things one minute, and then behave in ways that feel immature or unreliable the next. That is what makes this stage so important. The technology is developing at speed, but the way we understand it and apply it in business is still catching up.

Amodei describes AI as progressing at an exponential pace, not gradually over decades, but in sudden leaps. He suggests that we may soon have systems with capabilities that rival hundreds of millions of brilliant minds working many times faster than any human ever could.

That might sound dramatic, but if you look at the last year alone, you can already see how quickly things are changing. AI can now write content, design graphics, generate code, support sales conversations, and automate tasks that used to take hours of human effort.

For large organisations with dedicated teams, this is exciting.

For small businesses, it can feel like chaos.

The biggest risk for most SMEs is not science fiction scenarios or robots taking over. The real risk is much more practical. It is overwhelm. It is distraction. It is the constant noise of new tools, new headlines, and new promises, without a clear sense of what is actually useful.

A lot of business owners right now are having the same thoughts. They know AI is becoming important, but they are not always sure where to begin. Many have tried tools like ChatGPT once or twice and come away feeling that the output was generic or disconnected from their business. Others are simply aware that everyone seems to be talking about AI, and it creates that quiet sense of falling behind.

That is a completely normal response, because AI is still in its adolescence. It is not fully mature yet, and most business owners have not been given a grounded, practical way to use it properly.

This is the phase where thoughtful action matters. Not panic, and not avoidance, but structure, clarity, and guidance.

That is exactly why I built Knowd.ai.

Most businesses do not need more AI tools. They need AI that understands their business. They need something that is rooted in their services, their customers, their tone of voice, and the way they actually operate day to day.

Knowd.ai is designed as a business knowledge engine. Think of it as a company brain, a central place where your expertise becomes usable and accessible.

Instead of getting generic answers pulled from the internet, Knowd.ai allows you to work with AI that is grounded in your own business.

Imagine being able to ask questions like, “Write me a follow up email in my style,” or “Summarise this client call properly,” or “What do we normally quote for this type of job?” and getting answers based on what you actually do, not what a chatbot guesses you might do.

That is where AI becomes genuinely helpful. Not as a gimmick, but as a real business advantage.

The message I wanted to share today was simple. AI is not going away. It is growing up fast, and we are living through the teenage phase of one of the biggest technology shifts we have ever seen.

The businesses that succeed will not be the ones who panic or chase every new shiny tool. They will be the ones who mature alongside the technology. They will build systems, capture knowledge, create clarity, automate thoughtfully, and continue to double down on the human side of business at the same time.

That is what Knowd.ai is here to support.

If you are a business owner and you want to explore how to start using AI properly, in a way that actually helps your business rather than adding more noise, feel free to come and have a chat with me. And / or sign up for your free account with Knowd.ai

Because the future is arriving, whether we like it or not, and we might as well grow up with it.