How AI is Transforming Expertise into a Commodity: Insights from Box CEO

According to Aaron Levie, CEO of Box, the explosive growth of artificial intelligence is reshaping how expert knowledge is viewed, transforming it into a common asset.

Through a recent LinkedIn update, Levie explained how AI is advancing to conduct sophisticated knowledge work, spanning professions like law and healthcare, to strategic planning and technological assessments.

With AI tools maturing into autonomous agents, Levie notes that the scarcity of expert insight is diminishing. Thus, a critical question arises: 'In a world where expert intelligence is universally available, what distinguishes one company from another?'

Levie proposes that the differentiator is context. He asserts that the competitive advantage in a tech-driven market lies not in smarter AI systems, but in supplying these systems with unique proprietary datasets — inclusive of internal records, customer insights, workflow nuances, and accumulated knowledge.

Shifting Focus: From Prompts to Context

The practice of context engineering is gaining momentum in the tech community, especially around Silicon Valley.

Influential figures like Andrej Karpathy, part of OpenAI's founding team, and Tobi Lütke, CEO of Shopify, agree that designing suitable contexts for AI is more pivotal than crafting clever prompts. Technology leaders including Google Cloud's Will Grannis and GitHub’s Thomas Dohmke echo the sentiment, emphasizing the need to structure systems and data to provide AI with optimal operating contexts.

Despite its importance, Levie highlights the complexities involved in integrating the right context into AI configurations. During an August conversation with Business Insider, he noted that overloading AI agents with data can lead to what he termed 'context rot,' where the AI ends up overwhelmed or misdirected.

The High Stakes of Contextual AI

Effective capture, organization, and application of internal company knowledge can substantially boost productivity and efficiency, Levie articulated in his post.

Conversely, organizations that fail to leverage this approach may struggle to maintain their competitive edge when serving customers.