On the Game Day 2024 (American Football final aka Super Bowl) Microsoft released a new ad promoting GenAI. The ad was composed of people questioning about what other people thought about their abilities to accomplish goals, tasks, and objectives.

The ad begins with one person saying that “they said I will never open my own business” – and then the theme follows with other similar grievances such as getting my college degree, making a movie, building something, learning something etc.

The ad ends with the punchline saying “Just watch me now”.

While the ad received mixed reviews, and probably the world may have not been fully ready to embrace this, but we believe it was a powerful ad in terms of communicating the potential of AI (GenAI) for various demographics.

The message that Microsoft was trying to communicate is simple: GenAI augments your strengths and fills the gaps in areas where you are weak. When that happens everything is possible and nothing is beyond you.

Let us say you want to be a fiction author. And while you are excellent in generating plot lines, building and expressing scenes, dialogue and actions, and almost everything else that comes with a good plot. But somehow while you can imagine strong characters in your mind, you are having difficulty in building characters that your audience can relate to. This one thing – this one shortcoming – this one weakness – this one gap – can cost you your career as an author.

And that is where GenAI can help you.

The point is that it is not that you know nine things that when combined together that leads to your success. It is that tenth thing that you needed but don’t have, for one reason or another, can become your Achilles heel. What Microsoft is trying to say is that GenAI can fill that gap, cover that weakness, and help you accomplish your goals.

GenAI should be viewed as that partner that can help you cross that river when you have everything except a pair of pedals to row your boat. What Microsoft is saying is that GenAI are those pedals.

In our opinion, they are not implying that you are a loser who doesn’t have a plan, training, or motivation for success. They are saying the opposite. They’re saying you have what it takes but you need the tenth thing. And GenAI gives you that tenth thing.