The Push the Button Era
and the transcendence of Joni Mitchell. Watch me weave this together.
There’s a particular tone creeping into most AI commentary these days. And it’s soooo ironic.
You know it when you see it; it’s like looking at a photocopy of a photocopy. A little too smooth, a collage of a thousand people’s sentences, “ideas” with a certain flat, derivative quality. The kind of writing that feels like it was produced by the very thing it’s trying to describe. Maybe that’s the problem. We’re letting AI narrate AI, so everything sounds like an echo chamber: so certain-sounding it’s vague, frictionless in a way that feels slippery … all gloss, no grain. It’s not lived language, it’s just … surface area.
Meanwhile, in the human world, people are trying to make decisions that carry weight. Jobs, risk, trust. None of that is frictionless. It’s the opposite: real paths out here feel like my beloved trail racing, with lots of technical footwork on uneven terrain and narrow paths than run like moguls. Rocks, exposed roots, sudden drops. Surprises that show up just when you’ve found your rhythm. In the real world and on trails like that, you don’t stare at the horizon and admire the scenery. You look down, study the ground. Grounded, not gazing, is how you stay upright.
That’s why I’ve started calling this moment the Push the Button Era. It cuts through all the noise. At some point, someone has to flip the switch and ask: Does it actually work?
Not “could it work in theory.”
Not “will it transform the enterprise in twelve months.”
Not “does it demo well on stage with dramatic lighting.”
Just the most embarrassingly practical question in technology:
When you push the button… does the thing do the thing?
It’s startling how clarifying that question can be.
I heard an old interview of legendary Joni Mitchell; she was asked what makes her happy and what makes her sad. Clarifying, right? She answered the second part first; she thought it was easier. “Human nature,” she said. “We’re so puny.”
Not bitter or cynical, maybe tripping a tiny bit. Just, clear. Our greatest accomplishments backfire. Every miracle disappoints. Breakthroughs come at a price we didn’t want to pay after all. We misunderstand humans.
It’s hard to hear that and not think of AI.
We’ve spent the last few years in what I call the Razzle Dazzle Era of AI, a season of forced enthusiasm, glossy keynote decks, and jazz hands for conceptual breakthroughs no one can quite explain in plain language. Impressive? I’ll let that be a personal question. But reality eventually shows up and asks for receipts.
If, big if, AI is transcendental, miraculous in its glory, and human experience-shifting, what will we tell history we did with it? What did we prove, accomplish, make happen? What have we changed because it existed? Made better because we could? What advancements will we tell history about when this tool was ours with which to design our destiny? What did we reach for, make most important when we had choices to make, nominate when everything was possible? What were we willing to convince ourselves of when new questions were being asked? What beliefs were we willing to abandon for a higher truth to emerge?
I have these questions, and so far I’m disappointed in our answers.
The Push the Button Era is the end of that patience. It’s absolutely where promises go to be tested, and it’s also a bit of a mirror. AI doesn’t change human nature, it amplifies it. It’s a force multiplier for strengths or shortcuts; for care or carelessness; for wisdom or laziness; for ethics or blind spots. All of that’s on us. A force multiplier doesn’t give you a new direction, it propels you in the direction of your choosing.
So when we call AI a miracle, the real question isn’t whether the tool is powerful. It’s whether we’re primed.
Jason Averbook and I spoke with Dominik Hahn, Global Group Head of Talent at Allianz, and our conversation is one of the clearest examples of what good looks like in this new era.
Allianz is not the kind of place where innovation comes easy. Try more than 700 legally distinct business entities, each with its own tax codes, regulatory baggage, cultural constraints, and wildly different appetites for risk. It’s a global enterprise that behaves more like a federation — a place where compliance can outnumber optimism, but where leaders are committed to rolling out AI across all functions and parts of the business in a way that’s 150% safe.
Tricky terrain, right? Dominik went first.
Allianz didn’t just become an “early adopter.” They became a first mover, prioritizing and deploying high-risk AI use cases in one of the most complex environments imaginable. And here’s the part most organizations never reach: those use cases didn’t just launch; they worked; they stuck. They’re producing real results the business actually needs. They’ve passed works councils. They’ve satisfied legal and compliance. They’ve become a living blueprint for governance, transparency, and responsible design.
This is what the Push the Button Era looks like when done well: not speed, not spectacle, just sustained function. Launch it, make it work, make it stick, scale it.
And even with that momentum, Allianz is sitting at 25% candidate consent for requested data on their career site. Most companies would be sprinting to “fix the number.” Dominik isn’t. They’re earning trust one inch at a time. Radical transparency, continuous A/B testing, zero shortcuts, and an unwillingness to compromise any of the ground gained the hard way.
Slow trust. Real results. Systems that actually work.
This is how it’s done.
That’s the mindset behind the four-part AI series I’ve been writing with ADP. Not because the world needs one more breathless take on AI. We’re drowning in those, at least I am.
I partnered with ADP because they sit close to the plumbing — payroll, compliance, workforce data, the unglamorous machinery of how work actually happens. When you’re responsible for systems touching 40 million workers, hype isn’t a strategy. Something either functions or it doesn’t. That’s the vantage point I trust.
Most thought leadership still swings wildly between extremes:
AI will save everything or AI will ruin everything.
Neither camp is especially helpful.
What’s missing is the middle: practical, plain-spoken guidance that leaders need to make results real. The work that shows how to build systems that are trustworthy, not because a vendor says so, but because they keep passing the only test that matters:
Push the button. Did it work?
Push it again. Does it still work?
The first three blogs in the series cover the fundamentals: ethics that matter, transparency that holds up under scrutiny, and governance that keeps systems from drifting off course.
They’re intentionally understated. No fireworks, just clarity.
BLOG SERIES for ADP
Beyond the Buzz: Putting AI to Work: Trustworthy AI starts with ethics that are explicit, operational, and anchored in real decision-making, not aspirational principles or vague intent.
AI at Work: Powering Trusted Guidance: Transparency only matters when it allows people to understand, question, and govern how AI systems actually behave, not just admire how they’re described.
AI at Work: Governance, Guardrails, and Getting It Right: Because AI systems change over time, trust depends on continuous governance, monitoring, and accountability, not one-time approvals or static controls.
Welcome to the Push the Button Era. It will feel hard, exhilarating, worth it. Like trail racing, in the best and worst ways.
The Razzle Dazzle Era served its purpose, but it’s like calling yourself an athlete because you downloaded a training app. Now let’s see what actually works. It’s time to log the miles.
Joni’s right. We’re puny.
But being puny isn’t the same as being powerless.Also, you know what’s transcendent?
Joni Mitchell.
Let’s not forget ourselves, humans.
More soon.
I’m Jess Von Bank, and I write at the intersection of work, technology, and humanity. You’ll find essays here that challenge orthodoxy and make space for possibility. All are written with the future—and the people who will live in it—in mind.
A visceral example of the "photocopy of the photocopy" - https://www.instagram.com/reel/DSMyu_ojLox/?igsh=NjZiM2M3MzIxNA%3D%3D. which is really a next iteration of my all time favorite - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bVAoVlFYf0
Love the Joni Mitchell reference - humanity is quirky and slow trust is earned, and it takes time to focus and "do the right thing" - not just the first time, but always. Start simple, get it right, iterate and keep moving forward!