The Anthropic AI Study Shows Where the Money Is
Contributed by SBOC Member:
Pat Miller
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
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The Anthropic AI study mapped AI’s capabilities against actual adoption across every industry. Most people looked at it and panicked. Pat Miller looked at it and saw dollar signs.
The study uses a circular graph showing different industries around the outside. One shaded area shows how much of each industry’s work AI is theoretically capable of doing. A second area — much smaller — shows what AI is currently being used for. In fields like management, business and finance, and consulting, AI can do almost everything. But almost nobody is using it yet.
That gap between capability and current adoption? That’s the money.
What the Anthropic AI Study Shows & Why You're Reading It Wrong
The first instinct most people have when they see a graph like this is to think about what they’re going to lose. If you’re in business and finance and AI can handle most of your work, the knee-jerk reaction is to pivot to construction or drive a bus.
That’s the wrong read. The right read is to look at where AI capability is high but adoption is low, and ask yourself one question: How can I take my subject matter expertise and apply AI to capture all of that unclaimed space?
The Red Line Is Your Opportunity Map
If you’re a management consultant, you’re looking at a massive blue area of things AI can do — and a tiny red sliver of what’s actually being done. That space between the two colors is your competitive advantage if you move now.
The same applies to almost every service-based business. If you bring the human judgment, relationships, and expertise, and you add AI as a force multiplier, you’re operating in territory that most of your competitors haven’t even started exploring.
The Anthropic AI Study Says It's Here — Are You Ready?
The study uses a circular graph showing different industries around the outside. One shaded area shows how much of each industry’s work AI is theoretically capable of doing. A second area — much smaller — shows what AI is currently being used for. In fields like management, business and finance, and consulting, AI can do almost everything. But almost nobody is using it yet.
What To Do This Week
Look at your industry on that graph. Find the gap between what AI can do and what’s being done. Then ask: What part of that gap can I own with my expertise? That’s your next revenue stream.
If you want help installing AI into your business operations, Pat just announced AI Installation Groups — mastermind-style groups with live AI Slams, a curated newsletter, and async support. The first meeting is next week.
Listen to the full episode: Businessing with Pat Miller
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Contributed by
Pat Miller
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
Pat spent two decades in broadcasting management and hosting. After leaving the radio industry, he spent time consulting small businesses and realized the support system for entrepreneurs was broken. Where could you find help for improving small businesses and building real connections with other like-minded people. In June of 2020, the Idea Collective Small Business Community was born.