The Third Wave of Technological Evolution: Generative AI

Layla Foord
2 days ago
4 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Something big is happening.

Fast Adoption

You can feel it.

So can everyone else.

LinkedIn is a freakin' nightmare of AI, EM's and bogus claims.

But here’s the strange part: very few people can explain it clearly.

Most are caught between fascination and fatigue. Between wild optimism and quiet fear.

That’s not because people are behind.

It’s because this change is happening faster than our language for it.

Let’s slow it down.

Let’s walk through it - carefully, clearly, and with the respect it deserves.

What the Third Wave Really Is

This is not the first time something invisible reshaped the visible world.

We've been here before - just slower.

It took electricity nearly 50 years to reach most homes.

People lit candles while engineers ran wires. What seemed impossible became a switch you flicked.

It took the Internet about a decade to reach mass adoption.

At first it was slow, noisy, and full of skeptics. Now it underpins almost everything.

It took Facebook ten months to hit a million users.

It took ChatGPT five days.

The shape hasn’t changed. Only the speed.

And that speed compresses everything - our learning, our discomfort, our ability to pause.

The Pattern You Might Recognise

We’ve seen this before:

"No one will read the news on a computer."

"You can’t trust shopping online."

"Why would anyone want a phone without buttons?"

"Streaming is too unreliable. DVDs will always be better."

And now?

We tap, swipe, listen, subscribe. We navigate daily life through tools we once dismissed as unnecessary or strange.

This is the pattern of progress:

-Disbelief.

-Confusion.

-Overuse.

-Integration.

We don’t adopt change. We absorb it - until it disappears into expectation.

What AI Actually Is (and Isn’t)

AI is not a trend.

It’s not a website.

It’s not a robot that replaces humans.

It’s a new construct - and we need to call it what it is.

In science, a construct is a conceptual framework that reshapes how we think and act. Language is a construct. Money is a construct. Maps are constructs. Once introduced, they change not just what we do - but how we imagine doing it.

AI is joining that list.

It’s becoming a new way of expressing thought - and extending it. A system that lets us:

-Draft complex ideas at the speed of thought

-Translate knowledge across languages and reading levels

-Turn a sketch into code, or an emotion into a song

-Prototype, plan, explain, simplify, dream

It’s not perfect. But neither were calculators, word processors, or GPS when they arrived.

AI isn’t replacing intelligence.

It’s redistributing capability - and that raises real questions.

Most People Haven’t Caught the Wave Yet

The people using AI right now - creatively, critically, powerfully - are a small fraction.

Maybe 5% of society. Likely less.

They’re often resourced. Tech-literate. Time-rich. Or just deeply curious.

But most people?

They’re busy keeping the world turning.

Running schools, families, clinics, stores. Working shifts. Paying bills. Getting by.

They are not behind. They are overloaded.

And they deserve to be included in this wave - not once it's profitable, but while it's still shaping.

That requires access.

It requires education.

And it requires leadership that doesn’t speak in riddles.

If You’ve Seen It Before

If you’ve lived through the rise of the Internet…

If you remember typing on glass for the first time…

If you’ve felt the shift from doubt to dependence -

Then you already know the rhythm:

First it feels ridiculous. Then it feels overwhelming. Then it becomes background. Then we build on top of it.

You don’t have to chase hype. You’ve learned to look for fit.

This time, your role isn’t just to adapt. It’s to help name what’s happening - so others can join with less fear.

If This Feels New to You

You are not late.

You are not underqualified.

You are right on time.

You don’t need to master AI.

You don’t need to build anything today.

You just need to stay in the room with the questions:

What could this help me express?

What’s always been stuck that might now be set free?

What am I scared to lose - and what am I ready to release?

Let it be messy.

Let it be slow.

But don’t look away.

What This Moment Asks of Leaders

If you're in a position of influence - in a team, a business, a board, a school - you are being asked to lead not from certainty, but from pattern fluency.

Don’t default to fear.

Don’t let fetish or hype decide your roadmap.

Look around and ask:

What are we clinging to that no longer serves?

What might we prototype, just to learn?

What stories are we telling about the future - and who’s missing from them?

This wave is not waiting for consensus.

But it will move differently if guided with care.

The Invitation

This isn’t a call to master new tools.

It’s a call to remember that we shape the constructs we participate in.

We’ve done this before.

We’re doing it again.

And what we build now - and who we build it with - will matter for decades.

Slow down.

Get clear.

And step in.

-Layla