Accelerating towards Obsolescence
Fields confronting AI tend to see two paths: ban it or delegate to it. Both fail. The third option is harder to articulate and the only one that works.
Robert J. Brunner
Chief Disruption Officer
Professor of Accountancy
Arthur Andersen Fellow
Gies College of Business
University of Illinois
Founder & Principal, Innodative
For inquiries: Contact me
As Chief Disruption Officer at Gies, I advise university leaders on navigating emerging technology and disruption. I'm a astrophysicist by training, with an active research program at the AI frontier. My read on what's real comes from doing the work, not summarizing it. I bring that same judgment to boards, entrepreneurs, and leadership teams: separating genuine capability from hype, and deciding what to do about it.
Recent Writing
The Economics of AI Anxiety
Anxiety about AI-driven job cuts is everywhere, but badly misdiagnosed. The labor market is absorbing AI through task-level substitution, and three economic constraints ensure that human roles will persist.
My Teleprompter that Claude Built
A custom browser-based teleprompter built in a single chat. Why the economics of custom tools just changed.
Paper Records as Unhackable Backup
Why the oldest backup medium may be the newest defense.
Who Pays for Open Weights?
The golden age of free Chinese frontier models is ending. A note on why, and who fills the gap.