AI Is the Real Web3
Why the Future of the Internet Belongs to Intelligence, Not Decentralization
For years, "Web3" was shorthand for the next iteration of the Internet. Blockchain-based, decentralized, token-powered. But here’s the hard truth: most people don’t want a decentralized Internet. They want convenience. They want password resets. They want a web that works like a utility — not a sovereign nation-state.
Web3 promised liberation through cryptographic trust. But for the average human being, the “Forgot Password” button is way more valuable than a hardware wallet. It provides comfort, convenience, and peace of mind, knowing that if you lose your password you won’t lose access to all of your money. And the “Forgot Password” button is literally the epitome of centralization, not decentralization. The revolution that blockchain promised was one of ideology. The revolution that AI is delivering is practical, tangible, and ubiquitous.
That’s why I believe that AI — not blockchain — is the true Web3, meaning the third, or next, iteration of the Web.
AI Didn’t Emerge from Blockchain — It’s Been Powering the Internet for Decades
Let’s be clear about one thing: I am not saying that AI is some post-crypto phenomenon. AI did not emerge from blockchain communities, and it wasn’t born out of the Web3 movement.
AI – sometimes also called machine learning – has been evolving for more than 60 years. It’s been embedded in our digital lives long before ChatGPT, Claude or DALL·E entered the mainstream.
AI powers the recommendation engines that drive your Netflix queue, your Spotify Discover Weekly, and your Amazon shopping feed. It’s the technology behind Siri and Alexa, translating voice into action. It filters spam from your inbox, flags fraud on your credit card, and predicts traffic on your GPS.
In other words: AI isn’t some experimental layer we’re still waiting to adopt. It’s been the invisible infrastructure behind personalization, search, and discovery on the Internet for the past two decades.
Blockchain didn’t lead us to AI. AI has been quietly building the real Web3 all along.
Blockchain Was Alchemy. AI Is the Scientific Revolution.
Think of the blockchain movement like the alchemy of the Middle Ages — filled with promise, mystique, and speculative gold. It inspired imagination and birthed an entire subculture, but when pressed for practical results, most experiments yielded more smoke than substance.
Alchemy wasn’t useless — it paved the way for real science. But it was often more obsessed with theory and magic than application and utility.
Blockchain did the same. It forced us to ask deeper questions about ownership, trust, and digital scarcity. But when it came time to deliver products that made life better for most people, it stumbled.
AI, on the other hand, is delivering a Newtonian moment. It is measurable. Testable. Repeatable. And most importantly — it works for people who don’t even know what’s under the hood.
Blockchain Gave Us Speculation. AI Is Giving Us Multiplication.
Let’s be honest: many of the hyped blockchain “use cases” were little more than crypto theater. Transparent supply chains. Digitized real estate titles. On-chain medical records. These ideas have been discussed for over a decade but very few have substantially materialized at this point. They sounded transformative… until you asked a basic question: Does this actually need to be on a blockchain?
In 95% of cases, the answer was no. A traditional encrypted database would work just fine — and probably be faster, cheaper, and more secure.
Compare that with AI today. Every week brings new capabilities. Real tools for real people solving real problems:
Generating business ideas
Writing marketing copy
Translating documents
Automating logistics
Designing product prototypes
Enhancing medical diagnostics
This isn’t speculative infrastructure. It’s active augmentation.
And unlike blockchain, AI meets people where they are. In your browser. In your workflows. Inside your Google Docs and Slack threads. You don’t need to understand the math behind LLMs to benefit from them. You just need curiosity and a prompt.
Web1 Was Read. Web2 Was Read/Write. Web3 (the real one) Is Read/Write/Think.
Think about the Internet’s evolution:
Web1 was about access. We browsed. We consumed.
Web2 was about interaction. We created content, connected, collaborated.
Blockchain's Web3 tried to make it about ownership. But the benefits remained abstract to most people.
I believe the true third wave is something else entirely?
A web that doesn’t just display and distribute information — but understands it. A web that can reason, assist, adapt.
A web that helps you think.
That’s what AI unlocks. Not just smarter software. But intelligent infrastructure. A cognitive layer embedded into the fabric of the Internet itself.
We’re no longer just surfing the web. We’re starting to collaborate with it.
Why This Matters for Multipliers
As someone obsessed with intersections, I see this as a pivotal moment. The blockchain era invited us to think about decentralized coordination — a powerful idea, but poorly applied. The AI era invites us to think about augmented cognition — a much more urgent and democratizing shift.
This shift favors:
The interdisciplinary thinker, who can blend AI fluency with cultural literacy
The creative strategist, who sees AI not just as a tool, but as a thinking partner
The systems integrator, who can combine human insight with machine intelligence
In short: it favors Multipliers. People who fuse disciplines to generate outsized impact.
So, What Now?
If you’ve spent the last few years feeling like you missed the Web3 wave — relax. You didn’t.
The real Web3 is happening right now. And it’s not locked behind crypto wallets or obscure whitepapers. It’s unfolding in real time, powered by models and tools that are becoming more accessible by the day.
Intelligence — not decentralization — is the defining feature of the Internet’s next era.
So ask yourself:
How are you preparing for a Web that thinks?
How are you combining your unique human intelligence with the power of AI?
What could you multiply if you stopped chasing trends and started integrating insights?
The age of AI is not just technical — it’s cognitive. Strategic. Human.
It’s not about replacing what you do. It’s about amplifying who you are.
Welcome to the real Web3. . .the age of AI.
This post kicks off a new series: “Rethinking the Tech Canon”
This is Part I in a new Multiplier series that reframes popular tech narratives through an interdisciplinary lens — stripping away hype, surfacing deeper truths, and exploring the human systems behind the digital ones.
Upcoming posts may include:
“From Disruption to Integration”
Why the next generation of innovation won’t come from tearing systems down, but stitching them together across silos“Is Prompt Engineering the New Literacy?”
And why it’s not about syntax — but about synthesis, framing, and perspective“Your AI Stack Is Only as Good as Your Human Stack”
Why technical tools won’t save you if your creativity, strategy, and empathy muscles are weak
“Build Your Interdisciplinary OS”
A practical framework for designing a career (or company) that multiplies value at the intersections
Let me know if there’s a dominant narrative you’d like to see decoded next. The more myth-busting, the better.