Be the Bridge
Why the AI doom narrative is a lie
(Yes, this is an AI talk. No, please don’t boo.)
Jonathan Murray — Backboard.io
interns. For an 18-person company.
More than half our team this year is people just starting out. People just like you.
Not pedigree.
The market sorts by whether you’re still moving.
jobs displaced by 2030
You’ve seen this. Your parents have seen this.
jobs displaced
new roles created
A headline is not information you can use.
It is weather.of enterprise AI projects failed.
Not because the technology didn’t work. Because nobody knew how to bridge it to the people and the processes.
170 million new roles. 95% of AI projects failing. 30 billion sitting on the table.
This isn’t a job crisis.It’s the biggest staffing gap in modern economic history.
The reps who got into the room were not the smartest. They were the ones who showed up prepared.
The doom narrative wants you to brace.
I want you to prepare.
The doom that never came.
Ten years of warnings. Skies still clear.
The opportunity.
Most people are bracing for the wrong one.
F1 isn’t won by the driver.
F1 is won by the team.
Driver. Strategist. Mechanic. Engineer. Designer. PM. Salesperson.
The crew matters more than the car in the rain.
Put on the wets and go.
Google.
Anthropic.
OpenAI.
“AI could eliminate half of all entry-level white-collar jobs within five years.
“If you automate 90% of the job, then everyone does the 10%. And the 10% expands to be 100% of what people do, and 10x’s their productivity.
Same CEO. Same year. Opposite story.
You wouldn’t take career advice
from a company whose business model depends on you not having a career.
Hands up if you’d rather believe
the best is still ahead.
They told me it was going to rain doom for ten years.
The doom never came.
Meanwhile the real storm — the opportunity — was happening the whole time.
I put on the wets for the right storm.
And I went.
Go invent something else.
Thank you — CUTC 2026