Santa Maria Valley Tech

81,000 people just told us what they actually want from AI.

Anthropic interviewed users across 159 countries in 70 languages — the largest qualitative AI study ever conducted.

The results? Surprisingly human.

The #1 thing people want from AI isn't automation or efficiency. It's professional excellence — the ability to do more meaningful work, not just more work.

Right behind it: personal transformation, life management, and time freedom.

And for entrepreneurs? AI is being described as an equalizer — a force multiplier that lets one person operate with team-level capacity.

That hits close to home for what we're building in the Santa Maria Valley.

📊 I'm breaking down the top findings and what they mean for founders, students, and community builders right here on the Central Coast.

Link in comments. ⬇️

A year ago, most Cursor users treated AI as autocomplete. Today, more tasks are started by agents than by humans. Software engineering accounts for over half of all AI tool usage across professions. Every other category is still in single digits. The reason is that software engineering is primarily intelligence work. AI has crossed the threshold where it can do most of the intelligence work autonomously and leave the judgement to humans. Software engineering got there first. It is coming to every single profession.

The next wave is focused on outcomes. Going from copilots to autopilots.

https://sequoiacap.com/article/services-the-new-software/

The Role of an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builder

In our latest piece, we discuss the important role of an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder. The ingredients for building a startup community where entrepreneurs can thrive include community, connection, and collaboration.

https://santamariavalleytech.substack.com/p/the-role-of-an-entrepreneurial-ecosystem

But perhaps the most important components include: Culture & Curriculum

The ability to inspire all stakeholders + actual new venture development know-how. (Tools, resources, playbooks, proven methodologies.)

The more we observe and engage the more we realize that stakeholders often lack the playbook to actually push ideas forward from a strategy and process approach.

https://santamariavalleytech.substack.com/p/the-role-of-an-entrepreneurial-ecosystem

Communities Thrive Where Talent Meets Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Building: Building a Community Playbook for Economic Growth and Impact

https://open.substack.com/pub/santamariavalleytech/p/communities-thrive-where-talent-meets?r=3kyl9&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web