What is the next phase of innovation with AI?

Hackathons were once treated as experimental, even a little unserious.

I still remember the look on Steve Vamos’ face at one of the first hackathons I participated in at UTS. At the time, the format still felt unfamiliar to many leaders. Messy, fast, and a little uncomfortable.

By the early 2010s, hackathons had started moving from niche developer culture into universities, startups, corporates, government, and social innovation.

They became a way to make innovation visible. Put people in a room, give them a problem, build something fast, and show what was possible.

That process mattered for its time.

But now AI is changing the build conditions underneath it.

For a while, hackathons became part of the innovation toolkit.

They helped move innovation out of endless discussion and into making, testing, and learning. They gave teams a way to explore ideas quickly, build momentum, and see what was possible.

The signal

AI is changing the innovation process again.

As AI dramatically accelerates how quickly we can move from idea to output, the shape of the work is evolving.

We are moving from:

problem → idea → design → handoff → build

toward:

problem → workflow → system → prototype → iteration

When outputs become faster and cheaper, the leverage moves upstream.

The real work becomes clearer problem definition, better workflow design, stronger system structure, and a sharper understanding of what is actually worth building.

For builders

This is a shift from simply making faster to designing better systems around the making.

The question is no longer only, “Can we build it?” It is also, “What workflow are we changing, what system are we shaping, and what should we not build at all?”

For appliers

This changes how teams use AI inside everyday work.

The opportunity is not just to generate more outputs. It is to notice where decisions slow down, where handoffs create friction, and where AI can help create a better rhythm for learning and iteration.

Try this in the next week

Choose one idea your team is exploring.

Before asking what the output should be, map the workflow around it. What problem is being solved? Who needs to use it? What decisions need to happen? What information does the system need? What would make the first prototype genuinely useful?

Then build from there.

If you are asking questions like this

  • How is AI changing innovation?
  • What comes after hackathons in an AI-enabled workplace?
  • How should teams move from ideas to prototypes with AI?
  • Why does workflow design matter more as AI gets faster?

It feels like we are entering a new phase of innovation.

How are you experiencing it?