While everyone chases AI startups, I've been thinking about the counter-intuitive play: building for people who want off-ramps from the digital deluge.
The smarter take on the "build for the analog comeback" angle isn't just selling candles or vinyl. It's about services, tools, and experiences that help people stay human when everything else is being automated.
Think about it. As AI generates infinite drafts, meetings, and content, the bottleneck shifts to judgment, taste, and discernment. People need help choosing, not just creating. They crave curation over generation.
The real opportunity might be the "human layer" on top of AI output. Someone who reviews your AI-generated anything and says "this actually sounds like you" or "this doesn't." Or tools that help businesses inject genuine human moments into otherwise automated experiences.
Small experiments in this direction are already working. A friend runs a service that handwrites cards for people who want to send something personal but don't have time. He's not trying to compete with AI. He's offering the opposite.
What would you build if you stopped trying to out-AI AI?
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