Connect with JP: https://www.jpprince.com
AI isn’t just changing tools—it’s splitting cultures.
In this thinkfuture conversation, I spoke with Jonathan Smith (JP Prince), a technologist embedded in venture-backed startups and the author of the upcoming cyberpunk novel The Mess. Few people move as fluidly between the tech and creative worlds—and fewer still feel the tension as sharply.
In tech, JP explains, AI isn’t optional anymore. Founders are expected to have an “AI story,” whether it fits or not. Growth expectations have shifted from steady execution to exponential acceleration, leaving little room for nuance.
In creative spaces, the reaction couldn’t be more different. AI is often viewed as an existential threat. Even when artists quietly use AI for ideation or efficiency, the fear of backlash forces secrecy. The result is a polarized conversation with almost no middle ground.
We explored:
Why AI messaging fails when it ignores audience identity and emotion
How “AI fatigue” is setting in from shallow, forced features
Why AI excels at automating low-value, performative work
What that reveals about how much modern work doesn’t matter
The broken economics of publishing and creative labor
Why unions remain one of the few real protections for artists
JP also shared insights into The Mess, his cyberpunk novel set in a future Cincinnati where corporations replace a collapsed U.S. government—and where power, incompetence, and control feel disturbingly familiar.
His central insight is unsettling but clarifying: AI isn’t destroying creativity. It’s exposing how fragile our systems of value already were.
