This essay started with the related ideas that: (1) civilization-scale impact of AI needs us to go beyond raw model intelligence; (2) there is a Post-Intelligence Bottleneck on productivity gains being realized in the economy.
The economic history of 'general purpose technologies', like electricity and IT, shows us that this is not an unusual story. Breakthrough technologies require new infrastructure and new ways of working before their productive potential is realized.
AI is arguably the most powerful general purpose technology humanity has ever produced, but there are infrastructure gaps (in interface, coordination, provenance and discretion) that need to be filled for us to unlock its full potential.
History shows the J-curve is not destiny — it's a measure of how long it takes to build the right infrastructure. The faster we build it, the sooner the curve bends upward.
At Native, our work is still in its very early forms. Some of the specifics around the shape of agent-native infrastructure may evolve. But we believe the direction is clear: the gap between AI capability and AI impact won't close through better models alone. It closes when we build the substrate.
This is an infrastructure problem. And infrastructure problems, once recognized, are solvable.
If you're serious about agent-native infrastructure, we'd love to talk. Reach out to richard@withnative.ai.