Olivier Toubia (Columbia): How to Differentiate Yourself in the AI Era 🎯

Olivier Toubia (Columbia): How to Differentiate Yourself in the AI Era 🎯

May 24, 2026 Β· 32 min Β· Season 2 Β· Episode 12

About this episode

Olivier Toubia discusses how to maintain differentiation in the AI era amidst widespread access to similar models.

Most founders using AI today are building the same thing. Same prompts. Same outputs. Same products. So the real question isn't "How do I use AI?" It's "How do I stay differentiated when everyone has access to the same models?" This week on Zero to One, we sat down with Olivier Toubia, professor at Columbia Business School and a leading researcher on AI, innovation, and entrepreneurship. πŸ’‘ Some of the themes we explored: πŸŽ™οΈ AI increases productivity, not differentiation πŸŽ™οΈ Your unique context is the moat πŸŽ™οΈ The bottleneck has shifted to execution and distribution πŸŽ™οΈ Human judgment matters more than ever πŸŽ™οΈ AI is a tool, not the strategy This episode is worth your time if you’re building in AI and trying to figure out what actually creates a MOAT in the next generation of startups. πŸš€

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