When Everything Can Be Copied, Brand Is the Final Moat

ChatGPT just wiped away the moat surrounding content production, like it has already done to many other historically impenetrable areas of expertize. While the it will have seismic short term implications on peoples livelihoods, it will create change towards something else. We’ve seen this before.

• The printing press democratized information.
• The MP3 shattered the economics of music.
• Open-source software turned proprietary code into community property.
• Containerization redefined the physical movement of goods.

Each of these moments was a historical shockwave—a redistribution of power, access, and creation.

Now AI is doing it en masse on white-collar work.

This generation’s revolution isn’t just about speed or efficiency. It’s about abundance. Generative AI is flooding the world with infinite outputs: code, content, strategy, design, voice, motion. And in doing so, it’s dissolving the traditional moats that once protected businesses—talent, data, IP, even innovation itself.

So when everything can be copied, commoditized, or automated… what’s left?

Brand.

The Pattern of Disruption: A Historical Lens

Every major platform shift in history has followed a predictable pattern:

• Barriers fall—tools become accessible
• Control moves—from the center to the crowd
• Moats collapse—as scarcity turns into surplus
• New winners emerge—but under new rules

There's plenty of historical moments to draw from:

The Printing Press Moment

Before Gutenberg, knowledge belonged to the elite. After Gutenberg, it belonged to the masses. Literacy surged, ideas exploded, and centralized power over information vanished. The press didn’t just disrupt—it distributed. Suddenly, persuasion mattered more than possession.

Today, AI is doing the same to expertise. What used to take a team now takes a prompt. What was once a premium skill is now a built-in feature. Agents that I’ve built can do the work of 5 strategist and I’ll get the job done faster. And yes, there are other implications as I’ve written before, but let’s stick to this story for now.

The gatekeepers of craft have lost their monopoly. Just like with the printing press, the new question is: who can wield these tools to create meaning at scale?

The MP3 Moment

The MP3 turned music from a product into a file. Distribution was no longer about pressing CDs—it was about uploading and sharing. Control slipped from record labels to listeners. Napster, LimeWire, and Spotify weren’t just platforms—they were power shifts.

AI does the same to digital products. Interfaces, features, workflows, even voices—once scarce, now shareable. What used to be a moat is now a menu.

The Open-Source Moment

Open-source showed us that software didn’t need to be owned to be powerful. Collaboration replaced control. The most successful companies weren’t the ones with the tightest IP, but the ones who earned trust, built communities, and stood for something clear.

Sound familiar?

In a world where AI tools are accessible to all, code isn’t the edge—conviction is. Open-source won because of community and belief. Brand played a critical role then—and will again now.

The Containerization Moment

In the mid-20th century, the shipping container redefined global trade. What once took days of manual labor—loading crates, securing goods—became a standardized, modular system that slashed costs and unlocked massive scale.

Moats built on geography, local labor, and logistics expertise vanished. Ports shrank. Manufacturing moved offshore. Efficiency wasn’t a competitive advantage—it was the new baseline.

AI is doing the same to digital creation. The friction is gone. What once gave you an edge is now just expected. The only remaining differentiator? Why people choose you over the rest.

AI Destroys Traditional Moats—And That’s the Point

Today’s AI landscape mirrors the “Act Two” moment Sequoia Capital outlined: the novelty has faded, and the real work of delivering customer-back value has begun. But here’s the challenge: we are entering into the Age of Mediocrity where everyone has the same tools and ability to create massive amounts of outputs.

• Proprietary data? Models can learn without it.
• Unique UX? Agents and plug-ins are standardizing interfaces.
• Operational efficiency? Everyone has it now.

We’ve entered a commoditization loop:

1. You launch an AI-powered feature.
2. Five competitors ship it a week later.
3. An incumbent bundles it and underprices you.

Speed is no longer special. Novelty is no longer enough. Talent is no longer rare (mediocre talent that is and there's plenty of that).

AI eats production. But it can’t eat perception.

And that’s why brand has to rise from a marketing function to a strategic moat.

Capitalism Still Runs on Emotion

AI may transform supply—but demand is still human. And human behavior isn’t logical—it’s emotional.

We buy based on trust, identity, status, belief.

We follow stories, not specs.

We align with movements, not mechanics.

Markets may be efficient. Consumers are not.

Logic doesn’t close the loop. Emotion does.

So in a world where AI can replicate anything, the one thing it can’t replicate is how people feel about your company.

That’s brand.

Brand as Moat: A New Framework

Brand is not your logo or tagline. In this new era, brand is an operating system for trust, emotion, and meaning.

It serves four strategic functions:

1. Trust Filter

AI outputs are black boxes. Users don’t just want results—they want to know what they can believe. Brand is the shortcut to trust in a world full of synthetic signals.

2. Emotional Differentiator

When features converge, feelings decide. People choose what feels right—not what scores highest. Brand is the emotional edge in a flat landscape.

3. Network as a Feature

Communities can’t be cloned. A strong brand attracts advocates, partners, creators, and fans. Brand is the gravity that keeps people around—even when the feature set is commoditized.

4. Talent and Capital Advantage

The best people want to work with brands that stand for something. So do the best investors. Brand opens doors algorithms can’t.

AI Makes Brand Matter More—Not Less

Yes, AI will write your copy.

Yes, it’ll generate your video.

Yes, it’ll simulate your voice, your face, your product roadmap.

But it can’t build trust.

It can’t earn loyalty.

It can’t create belief.

The irony is that as everything becomes scalable and replicable, the unscalable parts become the most valuable.

Your voice.

Your values.

Your community.

Your coherence.

Your reputation.

That’s the real moat. And it compounds over time—while everything else gets easier to copy.

What Will You Stand For Going Forward?

We are in the age of infinite supply. AI is creating more, faster, cheaper. But abundance is not the opportunity—meaning is.

The winners in this era won’t be the ones who automate the most. They’ll be the ones who resonate the deepest.

The future is not about what can AI build for us, it will be about what will people believe about us—when everything else is the same?

Because in the end, the last thing AI can’t touch is the first thing that makes us buy: emotion.

And that’s where brand lives.