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The AI Paradox: Why We're Both Impossibly Early and Dangerously Late

November 28, 2025

Close your eyes and picture the internet in 1996 (I was a 20-year-old freshman in college).

Dial-up modems screaming. AOL was running tings. Prez Bill Clinton smoking joints. And, websites straight looked like ransom notes. And yet, something monumental was happening—30% of Americans were already online, fumbling through this strange new digital frontier.

Now consider this: just three years after ChatGPT launched (November 30, 2022), 54% of Americans are using generative AI.

We've already blown past the internet's three-year adoption milestone. By nearly double.

The Paradox That Should Keep You Up at Night

Here's where it gets strange. Despite this breakneck adoption, 82% of the world's 5.65 billion internet users have never touched generative AI.

Read that again. We're simultaneously racing ahead faster than any technology in history while barely scratching the surface of potential users.

It's like discovering that Formula 1 cars are lapping at record speeds—on a track that's only 18% complete.

Why AI Skipped the Slow Part

The internet had to lay cable. Install routers. Convince people to buy computers and pay for access. It built infrastructure from scratch.

AI just showed up at the party and started using the internet's infrastructure. No new hardware required. No installation CDs. Just a browser and curiosity.

The internet had to build the tracks. AI just had to board the train.

What This Means for You

If you're in business, this paradox creates a narrow window:

  • You're late enough that early adopters have validated the use cases

  • You're early enough that most of your competitors haven't moved yet

  • You're in the exact moment where action separates winners from bystanders

The question isn't whether AI adoption will continue. It's whether you'll be leading it or learning about it five years from now in a case study about companies that didn't.

The train is moving. The tracks stretch infinitely ahead.

How fast are you going to move before you get left behind, wishing you had made your move?

Good luck and keep winning,

Peter B. Sims

Sources

  1. St. Louis Federal Reserve - AI Adoption 2025

  2. Stanford HAI - AI Index Report

  3. DataReportal - Global Digital Stats

  4. US Census Bureau - 1997 Internet Data

The AI Paradox: Why We're Both Impossibly Early and Dangerously Late | Peter B. Sims Blog