The biggest opportunity for AI isn't just automating existing human work, but tackling the vast number of valuable tasks that were never done because they were economically inviable. AI and agents thrive on low-cost, high-consistency tasks that were too tedious or expensive for humans, creating entirely new value.

The most significant societal and economic impact of AI won't be from chatbots. Instead, it will emerge from the integration of AI with physical robotics in sectors like manufacturing, logistics (Amazon), and autonomous vehicles (Waymo), which are currently under-hyped.

Contrary to expectations, analysis shows that sectors with low profit per employee, such as healthcare and consumer staples, stand to gain the most from AI. High-tech firms already have very high profit per employee, so the relative impact of AI-driven efficiency is smaller.

Contrary to the belief that hardware is inherently capital-intensive, Monumental's founder argues their biggest expense is salaries for high-quality talent, much like a software startup. The cost of the robots is manageable and their payback time is good, challenging typical VC perceptions of the business model.

Unlike human employees, who are an expense, humanoid robots are assets. This allows companies to capitalize their labor force for the first time, turning an operational expense into a depreciable, value-generating asset on the balance sheet. Each million robots could add a trillion dollars in market capitalization based on their profit-generating potential.

While consumer robots are flashy, the real robotics revolution will start in manufacturing. Specialized B2B robots offer immediate, massive ROI for companies that can afford them. The winner will be the company that addresses factories first and then adapts that technology for the home, not the other way around.

The current excitement for consumer humanoid robots mirrors the premature hype cycle of VR in the early 2010s. Robotics experts argue that practical, revenue-generating applications are not in the home but in specific industrial settings like warehouses and factories, where the technology is already commercially viable.

The playbook of leveraging a large, low-cost workforce to become a manufacturing power is obsolete. Future competitiveness will be determined by automation density (robots per 100,000 people), making it impossible for nations like India to simply replicate China's industrial rise.

The U.S. focus on building domestic fabrication plants (fabs) is misguided because fabs represent a lower value-added, highly capital-intensive part of the semiconductor value chain. National security and economic strategy would be better served by focusing on downstream activities like testing and packaging, which are closer to the end consumer.