Are We Using AI To Do The Wrong Things Faster?

Uber burned through its entire 2026 AI budget in four months and still can't tie the spend to results. Starbucks pulled its AI inventory agent. Ford hired back 350 engineers to clean up after automated inspection. So what's actually going on?I think most of us are stuck in mode one and mode two thinking — using AI to automate tasks or do things faster ourselves — when the real payoff is in mode three: changing what work is worth doing at all. I walk through the steam-engine-to-electric-motor shift, the productivity J-curve, and two examples that show what mode three looks like in practice: IKEA turning 8,500 call center workers into a $1.25B design consulting business, and DeepMind's AlphaFold going from 200,000 human-predicted protein structures to 200 million.Also — quick heads up. This is the last Job Shit Show episode you'll catch here on Spotify/Apple. We're folding it into Great Mondays going forward, so you can still catch it there, plus we'll keep posting video on Substack.And if mode three thinking is something you want to work through with me directly, I'm hosting a workshop called AI Together on September 9th. Sign up at aitogether.greatmondays.com.About The Job Sh*t ShowThe Job Sh*t Show is an investigation into how finding, keeping, and doing work is changing faster than anyone is admitting — and what that actually looks like for real people on the ground. The Sh*t List is a paid Substack for leaders who want to stay ahead of what AI is doing to the workplace — and actually do something about it. Every other week, subscribers get a new AI Manager Skill: one practical, field-tested move for leading your team better in an AI world.