Rising tide

The rising tide is the book’s image for how AI reaches work. A wave suggests one violent arrival, a peak and then a retreat. A tide needs no single dramatic moment. It keeps coming, task by task, until the room is different and your shoes are wet.

That distinction changes the useful response. You do not have to predict the exact day the wave hits. You have to notice what is already becoming faster, cheaper or easier, and move before standing still becomes the decision.

The tide is not a promise that everybody floats. Some roles shrink, some ladders lose their bottom rungs and some people absorb more of the cost than others. Its one mercy is visibility. Gradual change can still be seen. Seeing it is the opportunity.