The Empty Value Problem
When knowledge is cheap, only experience makes it valuable.
I’ve been thinking a lot about how cheap knowledge has become.
With AI, I can spin up a strategy, a design, or a pitch deck in minutes. At first glance, it feels valuable. But when I teach people the same steps, prompts, and context, they don’t see the same results. Their workflows aren’t mine.
They don’t have the same experience to shape it into something that works for them. That’s what makes the difference.
Experience is the multiplier
AI gives us shortcuts, but shortcuts don’t replace lived experience. A polished deck doesn’t guarantee a winning pitch. A generated campaign doesn’t guarantee customers. Tools amplify the experience you already have.
They don’t create it for you.
I see this in my own work. AI helps me move fast because I know where to use it, how to adapt it, and when to ignore it. Strip away that context, and the same output feels flat to someone else.
That’s the trap of empty value. Outputs can look impressive, but without experience, they don’t move the needle. The real power of AI is the acceleration for those who already know what matters.
How to Avoid the Empty Value Trap
If you want AI to create more than surface gloss, here’s the shift I use:
1. Anchor in your context. Before running a prompt, clarify your actual goal. What’s the outcome you need?
2. Layer your experience. Add the judgment you’ve built from past wins and mistakes. AI drafts, but your experience decides what sticks.
3. Test in the real world.. Put them into action and see how they hold.
4. Iterate with intent. Refine based on results.
Multiplying Experience
The strongest results I see come when people treat AI less like a source of answers and more like an amplifier. The prompt is only half the story. The real spotlight belongs to the context, scars, and instincts you bring into the room.
Here’s a simple way to make that tangible. Before using AI, write down one piece of experience you’ve earned that others in your field may not have. Then feed that into your process. Watch how much sharper the output becomes.
What’s one piece of experience you can feed into your AI today to make its output truly yours?
AI makes knowledge cheap, but experience keeps it valuable. When you put your context, lessons, and scars into the process, the work holds weight.
Start small, keep layering, and the multiplier effect will show.
All the Zest 🍋