Danny de Kruijk is the co-founder of Sero and one of the biggest AI nerds in the Netherlands. With his background at start-ups such as Orderchamp and years of experience in AI development, he helps entrepreneurs transform their businesses using the latest AI technologies.

The five phases of AI development according to OpenAI

Danny outlines OpenAI's roadmap to AGI (Artificial General Intelligence) in five phases:

1. Chatbot phase - Already checked off with ChatGPT

2. Reasoning phase - AI that thinks before answering (late 2023 breakthrough)

3. Agent phase - Where we are now, not fully checked off yet

4. Innovator phase - Recently reached with breakthroughs like Google's mathematical solutions

5. God mode/Business logic phase - Complete autonomous organization management (expected around 2031)

The impact on the labor market

Danny is honest about the consequences: "The honest story is I think simply that a lot of people who are now - these are mainly people in a bit of the white collar jobs - that will no longer be the case soon."

But there are also opportunities: "People will really be lining up for you soon if, as a kind of AI expert, you can genuinely help companies automate processes."

New roles are emerging

• AI Orchestrators: People who set up and monitor AI workflows

• Hybrid experts: Domain specialists who combine their expertise with AI tools

• Automation specialists: People who convert processes into AI workflows

Practical AI applications that already work now

E-commerce revolution

One of the most impressive examples Danny mentions is a gaming company with 180,000 products: "They even have stuff from the PlayStation 2 in the assortment for the fans. Yeah, those are texts. It looks awful, but no one is going to spend even one second on that anymore."

With AI, they can now optimize all 180,000 product texts - something that was previously unthinkable.

Personalized content

Danny talks about a travel agency case: "If you go on a trip to Prague with your girlfriend, you get a very nice romantic Prague text. Then you go with your football club - then it's cheap boozing and very little money." The result? 20% CTR increase.

Practical tips for entrepreneurs

1. Start experimenting now

"You're there now, you still have 3-5 years. It all sounds very fast, but you're still on time to really make a difference there."

2. Choose the right tools

For workflow automation Danny recommends N8N over Make.com: "N8N is, in my opinion, already much more powerful than make.com and much cheaper."

3. Focus on bulk processes

Think about tasks such as:

• Bulk content optimization

• Automated social media scheduling

• Bulk product descriptions

• Personalized email campaigns

  
  

The future of SaaS and software

Danny predicts a major shift: "If a company soon needs to optimize a certain process... then you can research the market and there will be a tool that does 80% of what you want and 20% not. But you can also simply have it custom-made."

This means many current SaaS companies will have to rethink their reason for existing.

Safety and data privacy

Although Danny is optimistic about AI developments, he acknowledges the challenges around data security. His advice: "You shouldn't just throw your stuff in everywhere," but choose reliable platforms with good privacy settings.

The message for entrepreneurs

Danny's most important advice is clear: "Don't overestimate yourself, but especially don't underestimate yourself. And above all, get to work with AI. Because no problem you will encounter will be too difficult to solve in the future if you simply embrace all those agents and that kind of thing yourself as well."