James Clive-Matthews
  • About
  • CV
  • Notes and Essays
  • EUtopia Blog Archive
  • LinkedIn
Select Page

The AI utility disconnect

by JCM | 22 Jan, 2026 | Narratives & Meanings

This, from the WSJ, is simultaneously amazing and not at all surprising.

A screenshot of a chart showing the results of a poll, in which 87% of Workers report AI saving them between no time and less than 4 hours a week, while 76% of C-suite respondents claim it saves them more than 4 hours (and 19% say it saves more than 12 hours)

Notes and Essays

To help shape my thinking, I write essays and shorter notes examining the ideas and narratives that shape media, marketing, technology and culture.

A core focus: The way context and assumptions can radically change how ideas are interpreted. Much of modern business, marketing, and media thinking is built on other people's frameworks, models, theories, and received wisdom. This can help clarify complex problems – but as ideas travel between disciplines and organisations they are often simplified, misapplied or treated as universal truths. I'm digging into these, across the following categories - the first being a catch-all for shorter thoughts:

  • Marginalia (51)
  • Narratives & Meanings (33)
  • Structures & Models (18)
  • Systems & Technology (28)

Latest

  • AEO = SEO? Or is something more needed? 19 March , 2026
  • Review: Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, by Debbie Millman 8 March , 2026
  • On LLMs and “GEO” 25 February , 2026
  • Review: Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age, by Ada Palmer 25 February , 2026
  • The return of the Rise of the Robots 24 February , 2026
  • Review: Devil-Land: England Under Siege, 1588-1688, by Clare Jackson 20 February , 2026
  • How much can structured data help with GEO? 11 February , 2026
  • AI intensifies work, rather than reducing it 10 February , 2026
  • On GenAI filmmaking 7 February , 2026
  • On Moltbook, AI Agents, and hype 31 January , 2026

Archives

  • March 2026
  • February 2026
  • January 2026
  • November 2025
  • October 2025
  • September 2025
  • August 2025
  • July 2025
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • July 2023
  • November 2022
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • May 2019
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • May 2017
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • April 2016
  • January 2016
  • March 2015
  • December 2014
  • September 2014
  • August 2014
  • July 2014
  • June 2014
  • May 2014

Recent posts

  • AEO = SEO? Or is something more needed?
  • Review: Brand Thinking and Other Noble Pursuits, by Debbie Millman
  • On LLMs and “GEO”
  • Review: Inventing the Renaissance: The Myth of a Golden Age, by Ada Palmer
  • The return of the Rise of the Robots

Ideas blog categories

  • RSS

Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress