I remember about ten years ago, marketing vendors kept hitting me with the same line: “We stole the best minds from Google!” Supposedly, these folks knew Google’s algorithms inside and out. I even joked with one guy, “If everyone’s hired the Google team, how’s Google still in business?”

Fast forward to today, and here we go again except now it's artificial intelligence instead of search engines. Suddenly, every vendor is boasting they’ve got ex-OpenAI, ex-DeepMind, or “we basically invented AI” types on their payroll.

The funniest part? I’m in a weekly study group with some truly brilliant people, actual AI developers, researchers, and innovators. And not one of them calls themselves a guru. Not one drops phrases like “I’m the AI whisperer” or “I cracked ChatGPT’s code.”
So when a cold-call vendor swaggers into the store and claims they’ve got exclusive access to “the minds behind AI,” my skepticism meter doesn’t just blink red—it explodes off the charts.

Maybe my wife is right and I am a little too cynical. But maybe, just maybe, it’s not cynicism. Maybe it’s just experience... and a solid BS detector.