AI’s secret unveiled: The hidden truth behind the hype and the underrating
In advising some of the world’s most successful CEOs, billionaires and business owners, I’ve noticed a recurring theme when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI): it is both dramatically underestimated and dangerously overhyped. This paradox is not just fascinating—it’s costing companies real opportunities, time and money.
On one end, many business leaders still fail to grasp the rapid speed of AI’s evolution and the depth of its transformational potential. This is why Eric Schmidt, former longstanding CEO of Google and one of the wealthiest people in the world, recently said in an interview that AI is vastly underrated.
On the other hand, some business leaders leap into AI headfirst without the necessary groundwork, trying to automate chaos. Both perspectives miss the mark. To leverage AI effectively, we must understand why it’s both underrated and overhyped—and what to do about it.
The underrated side: What most leaders miss
The quiet revolution is already here. AI isn’t some abstract promise of the future—it’s reshaping industries now. But in many boardrooms, it’s still treated as a buzzword. Business leaders underestimate how fast the technology is evolving and how deeply it will affect every function, from operations and customer service to product development and finance. The most important aspect they overlook is that the speed of development is exponential and the capabilities of AI in the very near future are unimaginable for most because they will be drastic.
The CEOs I advise who stay ahead of the curve are the ones who recognize AI’s exponential growth curve. They invest in understanding it—not at the code level, but at the strategic application level. They ask: How can we harness AI to solve real problems, increase value for our customers and make better decisions?
It’s easy to miss the magnitude of change when you’re focused on quarterly earnings. But AI is not a quarterly play. It’s a long-term capability that, if ignored, will leave entire companies behind. The key is to start small, focus on use cases with high return of investment and scale from there. Unfortunately, too many companies don’t even get to that point.
The overhyped side: Automating dysfunction
Ironically, the same leaders who ignore AI’s real capabilities are often the ones racing to implement it for the wrong reasons. They see competitors talking about AI, so they scramble to show that they’re doing something too. But instead of using AI to enhance excellence, they use it to cover up inefficiency.
Here’s where it gets dangerous. Automating a broken process doesn’t make it better. It just makes the dysfunction faster and more expensive.
As Elon Musk famously said in his five-step algorithm for building great products, automation comes last. First, you must rigorously question every requirement, delete what doesn’t make sense, simplify what remains and only then—once the process is lean and sound—should you automate. Yet, in company after company, we see leaders jumping straight to step five.
One CEO I worked with pushed his team to roll out an AI chatbot to handle customer queries. But the underlying knowledge base was incomplete and the support processes hadn’t been cleaned up. The result? Angry customers, more manual intervention and a damaged brand.
They spent more fixing the aftermath than they would’ve by fixing the fundamentals upfront.
Question every requirement
As Elon has put it: “Each requirement must come from the real customer, not from a department. Requirements from smart people are the most dangerous, because people are less likely to question them. Always do so, even if the requirement came from me.”
Blindly following requirements without questioning their origin is a recipe for inefficiency. Even executive-level instructions should be interrogated. This reflects his principle of first-principles thinking—breaking things down to their fundamental truths.
What this means for you: Most companies my team and I have advised and supported behave like slaves to their own old processes. They do not question them. The processes should serve you, not the other way around.
The middle path: Thoughtful implementation
AI, like any tool, is only as good as the system it supports. When companies treat it as a quick-fix magic wand, they waste time and money. When they ignore it completely, they risk becoming obsolete. The answer lies in a balanced approach: seeing AI for what it is—not a savior, not a gimmick, but a multiplier.
If your foundation is solid, AI will accelerate and amplify results. If your foundation is flawed, AI will accelerate decline.
Thoughtful implementation means starting with strategy. What’s the business problem you’re trying to solve? What data do you need? Is your team trained to understand and use the insights AI generates? Are you prepared to change processes based on what the AI tells you?
Many leaders overlook the human side of AI. But culture eats technology for breakfast. If your people don’t trust or understand the AI tools you deploy, they won’t use them properly—or at all.
Real world vs boardroom illusions
I’ve sat in rooms with executives who proudly show off their “AI dashboard” with animated graphs and trend lines—only to discover that the data feeding the system is outdated, misclassified or irrelevant. It looks impressive, but it’s not helping decision-making.
Conversely, I’ve worked with businesses that quietly use AI to track customer churn in real time, optimize inventory with astonishing precision and personalize user journeys across millions of touch points—all without ever bragging about it. That’s the real power: results, not rhetoric.
The companies winning with AI today are not necessarily the biggest or loudest. They are the most aligned—between leadership, strategy, data and execution.
A final thought: The greatest risk
The greatest risk is not AI itself. It’s the human tendency to treat it either as an afterthought or a savior. The companies that thrive in the coming years will not be those that blindly follow trends, but those that build intelligently and lead with intention.
We must resist the temptation to jump on the hype train or ignore the revolution altogether.
Instead, we must look honestly at where our businesses stand—and ask the hard questions about readiness, clarity and execution.
Because in the end, AI won’t save your business. But your decisions about how to use it just might.
Three to thrive
1. Fix the Foundation First
Before even thinking about AI, clean up your processes. Streamline, simplify and optimize. Only then will AI create value instead of magnifying chaos.
2. Follow the Elon Musk Rule
Don’t automate prematurely. First, question every requirement, delete what doesn’t make sense, simplify the rest and only then automate.
3. Bring in External Experts
Don’t navigate the AI revolution alone. Involve experienced outside advisors who can give you unfiltered insight, challenge assumptions and guide implementation based on real-world results—not hype.
