Is AI really a technological revolution?

If you had asked me a few years ago whether artificial intelligence would ever change the world this much, I might have just shrugged.
But today? Today I can no longer ignore that question.
As a digital native, a marketer, a futurist, and above all simply as a human being, I often reflect on the impact of AI on our daily lives.
And then one question keeps coming back: Is AI really a technological revolution?

The reason for this blog partly comes from my earlier article about the five great technological revolutions based on the work of Carlota Perez.
In that piece, I discussed how breakthrough innovations fundamentally changed the world – from the steam engine to the microchip.
And now, now I feel that same energy, that same threat, that same confusion… but this time around AI.

We scroll through social media and see AI-generated art, talk to digital assistants, and watch companies transform within months through machine learning.
But is that enough?
Does AI really belong in the same category as the invention of electricity or the internet?
In this blog post, I want to shed a personal and critical light on that question.

My fascination with technological progress

A look back at my previous blog post on revolutions

In 2020 I wrote an extensive post about the five major technological revolutions.
That article, based on the work of Carlota Perez, already gave me a framework to look at technological developments.
Perez’s model describes how every major technological revolution begins with a breakthrough, followed by a hype phase, then a financial crash (the “bubble”), and finally a new social order.
It is a brilliant way not only to see what is happening, but also where we are in time.

What intrigued me most back then is how companies, like Kodak, often collapse because they fail to recognize the phase they are in.
They respond too late or not adequately at all.
And it makes me think of the current moment with AI.
Are we not also experimenting on a massive scale now, while having no idea of the long-term consequences?

Why I ask this question again now

Since I wrote that piece, things have accelerated.
ChatGPT, DALL·E, Midjourney… these are tools we had hardly heard of three years ago.
Now we talk to chatbots as if they were colleagues, let AI write marketing campaigns, and build apps that generate faces in seconds that never existed.

It feels as if we are in the middle of a wave – and that reminds me of the earlier revolutions.
Only: is this a new wave, or just a strong surge within the existing sea of digital developments?

What do we actually mean by a technological revolution?

The lens of Carlota Perez

According to Carlota Perez, a technological revolution is more than an impressive invention.
It is a fundamental change in how the world works, produces, lives, and thinks.
It changes not only the technology itself, but also the economic system, the institutions, and our daily routines.

To really call it a revolution, we need to look at four phases.

Installation phase: The technology breaks through and becomes available.
Speculation phase: Expectations rise sky high, investments flow in.
Crisis phase: The bubble bursts. A correction follows.
Synergy phase: The technology is integrated into society, economy, and policy.

All previous revolutions (think of the steam engine or the automobile) went through these phases.
Looking at AI… I think we are somewhere halfway.

Breakthrough, hype, crash and restructuring

ChatGPT and similar technologies seem to have been the breakthrough.
We are in a phase where AI is not only “possible” but actually applied.
Think of customer service, text production, translations, medical analysis, and even legal documents.

At the same time, we also see that the hype is enormous.
Companies rebrand themselves as “AI-driven” just to attract investors.
Startups are popping up everywhere.
And then I wonder: when will the crash come?
Because if history has taught us anything, it is that euphoria is often followed by disillusion.

The five revolutions so far: A short recap

From cotton machine to microchip.

The five major technological revolutions according to Perez are:

1771 – Industrial Revolution (cotton spinning)
1829 – Steam & Railways
1875 – Steel & Heavy Industry
1908 – Automobile, oil, mass production
1971 – Information & Communication (microchip)

Each revolution began with a key invention, followed by massive social change.
Think of how the car reshaped cities, how electricity transformed factories, or how the internet turned the global economy upside down.

What they have in common

What strikes me every time is that those revolutions:

Created new markets
Changed labor structures
Increased inequality, but also created opportunities
Swept away traditional companies
Formed new power structures

It is as if a reset takes place, and only the most adaptive survive.
The question is: is AI on that same path?
Or is it just a tool within the information revolution?

Is AI the sixth great wave?

The breakthrough moments: GPT, AlphaFold, DALL·E

AI is not new.
Since the 1950s we have been thinking about “intelligent machines.”
But what we are experiencing now is different.
The breakthroughs of the past five years are truly astonishing.

GPT-3 and GPT-4 have brought language skills to a near human level.
AlphaFold by DeepMind solved the mystery of protein folding structures, something scientists struggled with for decades.
DALL·E and Midjourney create art faster and more uniquely than ever.

These breakthroughs are not only impressive, they are also accessible.
You no longer need to be an expert to apply AI.
Anyone with a laptop and an internet connection can now “join in.”
That may well be the defining feature of a revolution in the making.

Are we living in the AI bubble?

The parallels with the dotcom crisis

When I look at how AI is developing right now, I cannot help but draw parallels with the dotcom bubble of the late 1990s.
Back then the internet was the future, and it was – but timing and expectations often did not match.
Companies without a business model received millions in investments simply because they “did something with the internet.”
And as you know: it ended with a bang.

The situation around AI feels similar.
AI startups receive billions in funding while their product is neither scalable nor profitable.
Investments are made on potential, not reality.
That is not necessarily wrong, but it can be dangerous.
Especially if there is no social safety net for the people who will feel the blow later.

What I also see is that many companies “add AI” without a real vision.
AI as a trick, as a marketing tool, instead of as an integral part of their business strategy.
Just like websites were once built “because they had to,” but without a plan.
And then you know: that will not last.

Financial speculation and tech giants

The biggest players – think Google, Microsoft, Amazon – are currently betting hard on AI.
Microsoft invested tens of billions in OpenAI, Google developed Bard (now Gemini), and Nvidia suddenly became the most valuable chip company in the world thanks to AI chips.

Those are signs of a massive shift in economic capital.
But it also means: the cards are being reshuffled.
Just as oil companies grew big in the fourth revolution, AI and data-driven companies seem to become the kings of this phase.
And that raises questions: who really benefits here?
And what happens to companies that miss the boat?

There is hope, but also much uncertainty.
That makes this AI wave both exciting and dangerous.
Especially if the bubble bursts, leaving room only for a handful of giants.

What makes AI different from earlier revolutions?

The speed of adoption

What fascinates me personally about AI is how incredibly fast it is being adopted.
Take ChatGPT for example.
Within five days of its launch, it had 1 million users – faster than Instagram, Netflix, or even the iPhone.
That says something about the hunger for this technology.

In earlier revolutions – like the introduction of electricity – it took decades before the infrastructure was broad enough to really make an impact.
With AI it is as if we go from zero to one hundred in just a few months.
That speed brings great opportunities, but also the danger of rushed integration without ethical or social considerations.

The intangible nature of AI

Where earlier revolutions revolved around physical technologies – machines, factories, oil fields – AI is largely invisible.
You do not see it, you do not feel it, but it is everywhere: in your phone, in your recommendations, in your customer service, in your HR systems.

And that is exactly what makes it tricky.
Because AI is software, we can update it, spread it, and duplicate it at lightning speed.
But it also makes many people feel that it is out of their control.
And that feeling of “tech without grip” creates fear, misinformation, and resistance.

Still, it is undeniable: AI is changing our relationship with work, with knowledge, with creativity.
It is not a replacement for humans, but a radical extension of our mental capacity.
And that… feels revolutionary.

What AI means for our work and our skills

A new work ethic

As a marketer I see daily how AI changes our workflows.
Where I once spent hours writing a campaign plan, I can now build a solid concept with AI in half an hour.
And that does not even include design, analysis, or segmentation – AI does all of that in seconds.

But that also means: the value of my work is changing.
Creativity and human nuance are becoming more important.
Pure production is worth less.
And that requires a different mindset: we must not compete with AI, but work with it.

The rise of hybrid skills

The professionals of tomorrow are no longer pure writers, designers, or analysts.
They are hybrid knowledge workers: people who think creatively, understand technology, and act strategically.
The AI professionals of the future are not necessarily coders, but people who understand AI, can direct it, and know how to use it smartly.

That also means education must change.
We can no longer train young people for a specific task.
We must teach them how to learn, how to think, how to adapt.
That may be the greatest challenge of this revolution: the pace at which skills become outdated is unprecedented.

And then there is the ethical side.
Because what does AI mean for jobs that are fully automated?
What do we do with the millions of people whose skills are no longer needed?
Do we go for basic income? Retraining? A new definition of work?

The ethics of AI: Power, bias and responsibility

Who controls the algorithms?

Perhaps the greatest concern of our time is the question: who decides what AI is allowed to do?
AI sometimes seems neutral, but it is trained on data generated by humans – and therefore full of biases.
Think of racist AI cameras, sexist recruitment algorithms, or a chatbot that turned extremist after one day online.

If we really want to give AI a place in society, we must also face the ethical questions.
Who is responsible for what AI does?
The developer? The user? The government?

Transparency and control

We need to move towards a situation where AI is transparent and controllable.
Just as we have laws for traffic or medicine, there must be rules for AI systems.
And that begins with awareness.
With education.
With open dialogue.

Because if AI helps us decide who gets a loan, who is sick, or who must be punished, then it must be fair and explainable.
And right now that is often not the case.

Why there has not yet been an economic turning point

The bubble has not burst – but why?

If you look at Carlota Perez’s model, then after every technological hype phase there is an economic correction – a crash, a bubble that bursts.
That moment often marks the end of the installation phase and the beginning of restructuring.
Think of the Great Depression after the rise of mass production, or the dotcom crash after the digitalization wave.

But with AI… that moment has not yet come.

There are some signs of overheating – small bankruptcies, companies scaling back their AI integrations, employees questioning the usefulness of tools like ChatGPT – but the real crash, that has not happened yet.
Why not?

I think it is partly because the technology itself is still developing.
AI is not yet mature enough to fully reshape broad sectors.
It lacks infrastructure, regulation, and in many cases even a clear business model.
AI is spectacular, but often still inefficient and unreliable.

Another important point: the big tech companies subsidize AI.
Companies like Microsoft, Google, and Amazon can absorb losses as long as they gain market share.
That keeps the bubble alive artificially – just as banks once did with mortgages for the housing market.

What we learn from earlier turning points

The turning point usually comes when there is:

Mass adoption
Economic dependency
Failures in the system

With AI we are not there yet.
Yes, AI is everywhere.
But most sectors can still do without it.
A hotel still runs its reception with people.
A municipality still processes applications largely manually.
And even marketers still use AI as a tool, not as a foundation.

So no, the economic turning point of AI – the moment when the system crashes, fails, and restructures – has not yet come.
But that does not mean it will not come.
The only question is: will we be ready?

The social impact of AI: Between hope and uncertainty

Inequality as a structural side effect

As with every technological revolution, inequality is a recurring theme.
During industrialization craftsmen lost their place.
During the digital revolution analog knowledge was devalued.
And now, with AI, you see the same thing happening.
Those without digital skills are left behind.

It is bitter.
Because AI has the potential to make work easier, smarter, and more inclusive.
But in practice the gap is widening.
Big cities benefit, the periphery lags behind.
Young people find AI intuitive, older people feel overwhelmed.

AI also affects how we interact with each other.
Jobs disappear or change.
Work pressure increases, because “AI can do it faster anyway.”
And some people become completely dependent on technology to do their jobs.
That is worrying.

AI as a mirror of society

AI shows us who we are – literally.
Because everything AI learns comes from us.
From our texts, images, habits.
AI makes our biases visible, our dreams, our fears.
And that forces us to look in the mirror.

And yet… it also offers hope.
Because if we decide what AI learns, then we can also steer it.
Towards fairness.
Towards sustainability.
Towards more human values.
But that requires conscious choices.
And courage.

Society must rethink what “value” really is.
Is it speed? Production?
Or rather empathy and creativity?
That is a discussion we are not having enough of yet.
While AI forces us to ask those questions.

What we can learn from companies that succeed (and fail)

The ‘Kodak lesson’ and the AI age

In my earlier article I mentioned Kodak as the ultimate example of a company that signed its own downfall by ignoring a revolutionary technology.
They had the digital camera, but did nothing with it out of fear of cannibalizing their existing business.

Compare that with a company like Adobe.
Instead of ignoring AI, they integrated tools like Firefly and Adobe Sensei into their creative suite.
Not to replace the creative professional, but to strengthen them.
And that works.

Or look at Spotify, which uses AI to create personalized music experiences.
There AI is not the product, but the catalyst for experience.
That is smart.

Are we heading towards a ‘golden age’ with AI?

The synergy will come – but only if we do it right

If we follow Carlota Perez, then after every crash comes a period of restructuring: a synergy period in which the technology really integrates into society.
A golden age.
Higher productivity, new forms of work, social prosperity.

But only if we do it right.

That means:

Investing in education and digital literacy
Fair legislation and accessible infrastructure
Less focus on hype, more on value
Using AI to strengthen human creativity, not replace it

We have all the ingredients.
But we still lack the will and the structure.
And maybe, very human: we have not yet felt pain.
No crisis, no turning point.
But that will come.

And those who anticipate now will reap the benefits later.

The sixth technological revolution: Yes, but with caveats

I now dare to say it very cautiously: yes, AI is a new technological revolution.
Not an extension of the digital wave, but possibly with its own cycle.
The sixth.
With its own breakthrough moments, hypes, risks, and – hopefully – a golden phase.

But we are not there yet.
The bubble is still full, the turning point has yet to come, inequality is growing.
We are at the beginning, and maybe that is the most exciting moment.

As humans, as professionals, as a society we must now choose: do we bend with this revolution, or try to resist it?
And if you ask me: you are better off swimming with the current than standing still and drowning.

Conclusion: AI is the sixth revolution, if we treat it that way

AI has everything it takes to be the sixth major technological revolution: it changes how we think, work, communicate, and organize.
But like every revolution, this one also requires vision, courage, and adaptability.

The opportunity is enormous.
The risks too.
And history teaches us: only those who move in time survive.

So: where do you stand?
Are you joining in?
Or will you be watching from the sidelines?