90s Internet vs AI Today
From Dial-up Dreams to Digital Disruption
Remember the 90s Internet? 👾
Dial-up tones. AOL CDs. Pop-up hell.
Yeah... that was our 'future.'
One JPEG = 5 minutes of waiting
The loading bar was our biggest villain
"Who needs email when you have a fax machine?" 🤦‍♂️
The 90s were full of doubters
The Dotcom Hype Machine
Overnight Promises
Dotcoms promised to change everything
Reality Check
Most of them died spectacularly
Cautionary Tale
RIP Pets.com 🐶
But No One Imagined...
Google indexing the planet 🌍
Amazon delivering everything 📦
Netflix killing Blockbuster 🎬
TikTok eating our time 📱
Fast Forward
AI Today Feels Familiar
Awkward
Clunky
Overhyped
Misunderstood
Just like the early internet
The Parallels Are Striking
The Skeptics
"It's just autocomplete."
The Hype
"It'll steal every job."
The Reality
"We can't yet imagine what it'll truly become."
Time Travelers Would Be Shocked
A 90s web surfer couldn't comprehend:
  • Streaming HD video anywhere
  • Instant global communication
  • Buying anything from your couch
  • A computer in your pocket
Remember These Early AI Limitations?
We'll laugh at them someday—just like we laugh at dial-up now
The Million-Dollar Question
If the 90s Internet built the world we live in now...
What world will AI build?
Early Internet vs. Early AI
Internet in 1995
  • 14.4k modems
  • Basic HTML
  • Crude graphics
  • Text-heavy
AI in 2025
  • Text generation
  • Image creation
  • Basic reasoning
  • Limited context
Both were just primitive beginnings
The 90s Web Was:
Slow
Hard to navigate
Full of "under construction" sites
Limited by technology
Today's AI Is:
Sometimes inaccurate
Prone to hallucinations
Still finding its purpose
Limited by training data
Expectations vs. Reality
Hype Cycle
Unrealistic expectations
Disappointment
"It's not magic after all"
Practical Use
Finding real value
Transformation
Changing how we work
New Normal
Can't imagine life without it
The Internet followed this path. AI is somewhere in the middle.
What We Missed in the 90s
We focused on the limitations, not the possibilities
What We're Missing About AI
5%
of potential
We've barely scratched the surface
18 mo
doubling time
AI capabilities are advancing exponentially
100x
integration
AI will be embedded everywhere, not just in chatbots
So are we still in AI's dial-up era?
Or have we already hit broadband? 🚀
What Comes Next?
Health Revolution
Medical diagnostics beyond human capability
Personalized Learning
Education tailored to each individual
Creative Explosion
New forms of art, music, and entertainment
Scientific Breakthroughs
Solving problems humans couldn't alone
Final Thought
"We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten."
- Bill Gates
The internet proved him right.
AI likely will too.
👋 Let’s Connect
Saurabh Bhattacharya
UX Strategy • AI for Business • Innovation
I'm passionate about building the future of human-AI collaboration. If you're tackling exciting challenges in agentic AI, I'd love to connect and explore how we can shape impactful experiences together.

www.linkedin.com

HermitMonster

UX @ Hermitmonster

Salutations from a brutalist. I am Saurabh Bhattacharya, here to provide you user experience consultation that you need. Let's have a chat and do the little miracles we can. Memento Mori. By living life to the fullest, you can let go at any moment.