Big New AI Business Models, Use Cases, Industries Will Come from Solving New Problems

One question many of us are asking ourselves is where dangers and opportunities are to be found as artificial intelligence is applied to more processes, functions, products and industries. And it might be quite humbling--but accurate--to say that much remains unknown. 

And that is simply the way new technology tends to unfold. Many firms were created using core technology developed at Xerox PARC, including 3Com, Adobe and Synoptics. But “the success of some of these departing spinoffs was largely unforeseen, and unforeseeable,” said Henry Chesrough in Open Innovation. 

Consider what innovations the internet brought that likely were unexpected by most of us, such as social media; crowdsourcing, the sharing economy or search, as well as many innovations that already were in place, such as open source. 

Many other forms of disintermediation, where steps in a value chain were removed, are obvious: e-commerce; education, gaming or user-generated content. 

Other unfolding developments, such as virtual reality or cryptocurrency, are less directly-created by the internet, but generally require its use. 

Innovation	Unexpected Value	Use Cases	Revenue Models	Companies & Industries
Search Engines	Democratization of information, knowledge discovery, access to global resources	Finding anything online, researching topics, exploring new ideas	Advertising, affiliate marketing, premium features	Google, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, search engine marketing agencies
Social Media	Connection & community beyond physical limitations	Sharing experiences, building relationships, expressing oneself, marketing & branding	Advertising, subscriptions, data monetization	Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Influencer marketing
Sharing economy (e.g., Uber, Airbnb)	Sharing resources & assets for income generation	Transportation, accommodation, peer-to-peer rentals, skills & services	Transaction fees, commissions, advertising, subscriptions	Uber, Airbnb, Lyft, Turo, TaskRabbit
Crowdsourcing	Collective intelligence and distributed problem-solving	Gathering diverse perspectives, generating content, finding solutions, conducting research	Platform fees, micro-transactions, project funding	Wikipedia, Kickstarter, Upwork, Freelancer
E-commerce	Convenient shopping beyond physical stores	Broader product access, competitive pricing, personalized recommendations, 24/7 availability	Online sales, marketplace commissions, product subscriptions	Amazon, Alibaba, Etsy, Online retail in every imaginable niche
Open-source software	Collaborative development and access to free software	Innovation through community involvement, cost-effective solutions, customization, security patches	Donations, sponsorships, enterprise support, premium features	Linux, Apache, WordPress, Open-source frameworks for various fields
Streaming services	On-demand access to vast entertainment libraries	Cord-cutting from traditional media, personalized recommendations, global content reach	Subscriptions, pay-per-view, ad-supported tiers	Netflix, Spotify, YouTube, Streaming platforms for music, games, podcasts, educational content
Online education	Accessible learning beyond geographical and financial constraints	Flexible learning pathways, personalized courses, diverse instructors, upskilling & reskilling	Course fees, subscriptions, micro-credentials, corporate training	Coursera, Udemy, Khan Academy, Online learning for academic degrees, professional development, personal interests
Cryptocurrency	Decentralized financial system and alternative store of value	Peer-to-peer transactions, global reach, inflation resistance, new investment opportunities	Blockchain technology, transaction fees, mining rewards, DeFi applications	Bitcoin, Ethereum, Stablecoins, Cryptocurrency exchanges, NFTs, Blockchain-based financial services
Blogging & personal branding	Sharing individual voice and expertise with a global audience	Building influence, establishing thought leadership, connecting with communities, potential for income generation	Advertising, sponsored content, affiliate marketing, product sales, consulting services	WordPress, Blogger, Medium, Independent creators across various fields

And perhaps one of the lessons of innovation is that big breakthroughs happen mostly when innovators try to solve new problems, not fix existing problems.

And right now, virtually everything we see and hear about AI is how it can help fix some existing process. That’s useful, to be sure. 

But the big, unexpected new use cases, revenue models and value will happen where we are perhaps least expecting it. 

New technology can create entirely new markets and value chains when it is harnessed to meet unmet needs we did not recognize. We did not “know” we needed search or social media. We did not know we needed mobile computing and connectivity devices or personal computing appliances. 

AI undoubtedly will, in context, be viewed as an app, a use case, a function or a capability. But in other cases it will be viewed as a platform to support new business business models, industries and types of firms. 

We just don’t know--yet--how all that will develop.