Every industrial revolution follows the same pattern.
First comes the breakthrough. Then comes the hype. Skeptics declare it’s a fad. True believers promise it changes everything. Most people argue about which camp is right.
Meanwhile, practical builders quietly get to work. They don’t need to resolve the debate. They just need tools that work.
The Steam Train Pattern
When steam engines emerged, a predictable chaos followed. Companies slapped “steam-powered” on everything. Steam-powered butter churns. Steam-powered hat brushes. Products that didn’t need steam - that were arguably worse with it - marketed their steam credentials anyway.
The hype wasn’t about solving problems. It was about appearing modern. About being seen on the right side of history. About cashing in before the window closed.
Sound familiar?
Today we have AI-powered everything. AI-powered to-do lists that suggest tasks you already planned. AI-powered calendars that schedule things you could schedule faster yourself. AI chatbots that answer questions worse than a good FAQ.
The pattern is steam engines all over again. Slap AI on it, ship it, worry about usefulness later.
The Debate That Won’t Die
Right now, AI conversations fall into tired camps.
Doomers predict job destruction, societal collapse, machines beyond human control. Utopians promise AGI, singularity, problems solved by superintelligence. Skeptics insist it’s a bubble, that LLMs are just autocomplete, that winter is coming.
Each camp has evidence. Each has blind spots. None of them are building things that work.
Here’s what I’ve noticed: the loudest voices in the AI debate rarely ship products. They write think pieces. They give conference talks. They post prediction threads. But they don’t build tools people use every day.
The people quietly shipping useful AI? They’re too busy to argue about timelines to AGI.
What Post-Hype Actually Means
Post-hype doesn’t mean AI failed. It doesn’t mean the technology plateaued. It means something simpler: the conversation shifted from possibilities to practicalities.
Post-hype steam power meant factories, railways, ships - not steam-powered novelty items. The technology found its useful forms and became infrastructure.
Post-hype AI will look similar. Less chatbot theater, more actual collaboration. Less “AI as a feature” slapped onto products, more AI as a colleague that handles work.
kanman.ai is built for this shift. We treat AI the way it actually works best: as virtual teammates that join your boards, pull tasks, collaborate in real-time, and ship alongside humans.
Virtual Teammates, Not Magic
The assistant paradigm has problems.
Assistants wait for instructions. You have to know what to ask, when to ask it, how to phrase your request. The cognitive load stays with you. You become a manager of the AI instead of a collaborator with it.
Virtual teammates work differently. They join your workspace like any other team member. They have boards, get assigned tasks, pull work when they have capacity. Same @mentions, same activity feeds, same accountability.
The interface isn’t a chat window. It’s a kanban board - the same tool you use to collaborate with humans.
This design choice matters. When AI works through the same interface as humans, the skills transfer. You already know how to assign tasks, review work, set priorities. Virtual teammates slot into existing workflows instead of demanding new ones.
Autonomy Levels That Make Sense
Not every team wants AI running loose. Not every task needs human oversight. The answer isn’t all-or-nothing - it’s configurable autonomy.
kanman.ai offers four levels:
Assigned only. Virtual teammates do exactly what you tell them. Nothing more. Maximum control, minimum surprise.
Capacity pull. When teammates have bandwidth, they pull available tasks from the queue. You still define what’s available. They just don’t sit idle waiting for explicit assignment.
Proactive review. Teammates suggest improvements, flag issues, offer alternatives. Human approval before action. Good for tasks where you want a second perspective.
Full autonomy. Teams handle entire workstreams. Set the guardrails, define the outcomes, let them work. Check in when needed, but don’t micromanage.
Most teams start at assigned-only and graduate up. Some tasks stay at one level forever. The point is having options, not being forced into a single mode.
Skip the Debate, Start Building
The AI argument will continue for years. Camps will dig in. Twitter threads will pile up. Conference panels will rehash the same positions.
You don’t have to wait for consensus.
If you’re tired of AI being either overpromised or dismissed, if you want tools that treat AI as capable colleagues rather than magic wands or existential threats, if you’re ready to skip the hype cycle and just get things done - virtual teammates are ready.
No debate required. Just work.
Ready to skip the hype? Human and virtual teammates, collaborating on the same boards. kanman.ai - annual workspace subscriptions. €4 / month for individuals, €10 per seat / month.
Marco Kerwitz
Founder of kanman.ai