Human Imagination is a Massive Failure for AI Adoption

It was 29 January 1886 when Carl Benz patented the first gasoline powered car, The Benz Patent-Motorwagen. The general consensus at the time was not one of excitement, it was more like a mix of intense skepticism, mild amusement, and outright annoyance. To the average person in Mannheim, Germany, Carl Benz hadn’t invented the future, rather a noisy, impractical, and dangerous toy.

At this point in human history, personal transportation had mostly been taken care of by the human body (legs) or horses (with carts or carriages attached). Of course there were trains and boats as well, if we’re being fully inclusive. So the idea of replacing them with a mechanical contraption that averaged 13 km/h seemed absurd. If you listened into the conversations at a local pub in the late 1880s, the conversation had centered around:

“It’s an expensive nuisance.” The early Motorwagen was loud, smoked heavily, and frequently broke down. It required a specific fuel called ligroin (a petroleum derivative) to run, which you could only buy in tiny bottles at pharmacies. People joked that you had to visit a chemist in order to power it.

“It scares the horses and the children.” The machine rattled down cobblestone streets, emitting loud backfires. It terrified livestock, leading to early complaints about public safety and noise pollution.

“Why change what works?” Horses were self-replicating, fueled by simple grass or oats, and could navigate mud and steep hills. Benz’s first three-wheeled model struggled significantly with any incline and had no gears to climb hills.

The general consensus was that it was a passing fad for wealthy eccentrics with too much time and money on their hands. (a line that’s been repeated many times in history)

The Failure of Human Imagination

This is where it gets real for me. Real because I’ve just completed speaking to 900 people over 4 weeks, 20 people per session, for one hour at a time. I was asked to present a light and general ‘introduction to AI’. To each group of 20 people I asked how many people had never used AI? Around 5% have so far escaped it (you can run, but you can’t hide) The next 92% cited examples of AI helping them with grammar and the writing of emails, and the last 3% had integrated one or another AI platform into some fairly meaningful business or hobbyist activity.

To every group I pointed out that collectively we were maybe using 4% of AI’s current capability. And while we might think that what we were producing was truly impressive, we were barely scratching the surface.

Why was that? What was stopping us from applying ourselves to the opportunity that was mostly free, available 24.7, fairly easy to use, and reportedly revolutionary?

Let’s re-visit what was going on in 1886. People couldn’t extrapolate Benz’s car into their future. They weren’t able to imagine what might become of this invention. They couldn’t see that this one cylinder, 3 wheeled, noisy and regularly glitchy vehicle would transform the world of transportation and their lives. They were unable to see a larger engine, four wheels, a roof, a larger vehicle to carry more people, tow boats, lead to the caravan, move huge volumes of freight, and ultimately drive autonomously.

Their imagination had failed them. Carl Benz’s invention was anything but a fad for wealthy eccentrics. It literally changed the world.

AI Is The Modern Motorwagen

Here we are. 2026. With exactly the same problem. Human imagination failure.

We’re having the exact same conversations in our local pubs:

• AI: It’s expensive nuisance at $20 per month
• AI: I’m a little to a lottle scared of it
• AI: I have Google, why change what works?
• AI: It’s going to take my job and replace me.

I know, “we don’t know what we don’t know”. And yet, if it is what it’s purported to be, this could comprehensively change our worlds.

• Like the tractor changed farming.
• Like the calculator changed mathematical processing.
• Like the fax machine changed the speed of document delivery.
• Like the Encyclopedia changed access to information, and the internet blew our minds.
• Like mobile phones changed personal communication — for good and bad.

Why are we not applying ourselves? Why do we not want to take a moment and push AI into our future? And instead of being afraid, instead of resisting, instead of settling for the status quo, we look back, understand our own personal hallucinations, and leap into the future with grand abandon?

That’s the real problem. Not the technology. Not the cost. Not the learning curve.

It’s imagination. Yours. Mine. Ours.

We are standing in 1886, watching a noisy three-wheeled contraption rattle down a cobblestone street, and calling it a nuisance. When what we should be doing is asking, where does this go?

What does this become? What does this make possible for me?

Your lack of imagination is the only thing holding you back from the greatest tool you’ve ever had access to.

I know, because it held me back too. Until it didn’t.