Dr. Daniel Duma, an AI PhD with extensive experience at Google and as a startup founder, delivered a thought-provoking presentation at this year’s Nomad Summit in Chiang Mai. His message was clear and urgent: the AI revolution isn’t coming—it’s already here, and it’s transforming everything from software development to entrepreneurship.
“I hope to convince you that the way that we used to do things is going to change meaningfully,” Dr. Daniel “Dan” Duma began. “The jobs and entrepreneurship that we used to know are going to be meaningfully transformed, and indeed building an AI startup might be the biggest opportunity in our lifetimes.”
The Exponential Growth of AI Capabilities
Dan illustrated the rapid advancement of AI by showcasing the evolution of AI-generated imagery. What started as rudimentary outputs in 2014 has evolved into photorealistic images, videos with accurate physics simulations, and 3D models that are indistinguishable from human-created content.
“Text in, video out,” he explained while showing impressive AI-generated videos. “Look at the physics simulation—this is something that just blows my mind, that the model just learned how water behaves and how things fall into it.”
This exponential growth isn’t limited to digital content. Dan highlighted advances in robotics, from humanoid robots to Boston Dynamics’ dog-like machines, suggesting that we’re approaching a world where robots will perform increasingly complex physical tasks.
The Impact on Digital Nomads and Knowledge Workers
For digital nomads, the implications are significant. Dan pointed out that a large percentage of nomads work as software developers or engineers—jobs that are already being transformed by AI.
“I used to think that as a software engineer, my job was to automate all jobs… and I used to think that my job would be the last one to go because I’m the one doing the automation,” he shared. “But then I realized that we might be better at automating ourselves than we are at automating anybody else’s job.”
To illustrate this point, Dan demonstrated how AI can now write code for a playable Space Invaders game with just a few prompts. More importantly, he highlighted that OpenAI’s recent model (O3) can now solve 71.7% of real-world GitHub issues—a dramatic improvement from just months ago.
“Will 2025 be the year that we beat the best programmer at programming? And if we do, will there be any jobs left for programmers?” he asked the audience.
Dr. Daniel Duma: “Just ride the damn robots.”
The Rise of the “Ultrapreneur”
Despite the challenges, Dan sees enormous opportunities in this new landscape. He introduced the concept of the “ultrapreneur”—someone who leverages AI to build substantial businesses with minimal human resources. “Sam Altman of OpenAI says that AI will make it possible for one person to build a one-billion-dollar company very soon,” he noted.
The key to this new entrepreneurial paradigm is “agentic AI”—AI systems that can autonomously complete complex tasks by interacting with your computer, searching the web, and using various applications to achieve goals.
“An agent is someone or something that produces an effect,” Dan explained. “In the robot space, it’s a robot that performs autonomous actions, interacting with the environment in order to achieve explicit goals, often using multi-step plans to do so.”
Finding Your AI-Powered Opportunity
Dan advised attendees to focus on creating systems and processes rather than just learning prompt engineering:
“You shouldn’t emphasize that much learning automations and prompting methods… focus on learning how to think in systems and create processes, how to delegate, create systems, and how to lift yourself up from that and design the playbook instead of having to do it.”
He suggested a framework for identifying opportunities:
- Use AI to analyze internet trends and data
- Generate business candidates based on these trends
- Filter them based on personal preferences and founder fit
- Score them based on desirability, feasibility, and viability
- Validate through automated funnels and testing
Key Takeaways
- If you’re not automating, you’re being automated: “Map up your processes—delete, delegate, automate.”
- The cost of digital goods is trending toward zero: “You can make anything, but keep in mind that also means everybody else can make everything.”
- Personal brand and network are increasingly valuable: As AI democratizes creation, how you’re found and why people choose to work with you becomes crucial.
- Agentic AI is the next frontier: AI systems that can autonomously complete complex tasks are emerging.
- The AI startup opportunity is enormous: “Build the AI startup, make a billion bucks.”
- Ownership matters: “The conversation we should all be having is whose robot is this anyway… own the damn robots and even better, ride them.”
Conclusion
Dan’s talk provided a compelling glimpse into a future that’s arriving faster than most realize. For digital nomads and entrepreneurs, the message is both a warning and an invitation: adapt to this new reality by embracing AI tools, or risk being left behind.
As we navigate this transformation, the questions of ownership, opportunity, and how we define work will become increasingly important. The future is indeed now, and it’s up to us to shape it.
Watch the full recording of Dan’s talk “The Future is Now” to dive deeper into these insights and see his engaging demonstrations of cutting-edge AI capabilities.
Further Resources
For those interested in exploring these topics more deeply:
- State of AI Report – An annual report that provides a comprehensive analysis of the most important developments in AI research, industry, politics, and safety.
- Paul Graham’s Essays on Startups and AI – Mentioned by Dan in his talk, Paul Graham’s essays offer valuable insights on entrepreneurship in the age of AI.
- Anthropic’s agentic AI research – For those interested in learning more about agentic AI systems and their capabilities.
- OpenAI’s Economic Impacts of AI – Research on how AI might transform labor markets and the economy.
- Crew AI – One of the frameworks Dan mentioned for creating AI agent-based systems.
Connect with Daniel Duma
Follow his Youtube Channel, his Instagram, and connect on Linkedin.
