The Generality of AI: Multipurpose Tools

You're using AI like it's a fancy search engine. Professional poker players figured out the real strategy decades ago.

Here's a dirty secret from the online poker world: the best players don't just play poker. They play eight tables at once.

It's called multitabling. While you're agonizing over one hand, a professional is running the same decision process across a dozen simultaneous games. They're not smarter than you per hand—they're just multiplying their edge by volume.

And this is exactly how you should think about AI.

The Multitabling Mindset

Most people use ChatGPT like this: they have a question, they ask it, they get an answer. One conversation at a time. Very polite. Very inefficient.

Meanwhile, the people actually getting ahead have figured out what poker players learned twenty years ago: the tool is general-purpose, so use it in parallel.

Right now, as I write this, I could have:

• One tab researching market data for an investment thesis
• Another drafting an email to a difficult client
• A third debugging code
• A fourth outlining a presentation
• A fifth brainstorming product names

Five different tasks. Five different domains. One tool. All running simultaneously while I switch between them as needed.

This isn't theoretical. This is how the most productive AI users actually work. And if you're not doing this yet, you're leaving massive productivity gains on the table.

Why "General Purpose" Changes Everything

Think about the tools you used before AI. Excel for spreadsheets. Word for documents. Photoshop for images. Slack for communication. Each tool did one thing.

AI is different. It's a general-purpose cognitive tool.

The same underlying model that writes your emails can also:

• Analyze your financial statements
• Debug your Python script
• Explain quantum mechanics to your kid
• Generate a marketing campaign
• Translate your contract into Japanese
• Write a poem in the style of Shakespeare
• Create a meal plan for your specific dietary restrictions

This isn't a tool. It's a universal cognitive amplifier. And most people are using it like a slightly better Google search.

How Poker Players Think About Edge

In poker, your "edge" is your expected profit per hand. If you're a skilled player, you might have a 2% edge over the table average. That means for every $100 in the pot, you expect to win $2 more than break-even.

Sounds small. But here's the thing: edge multiplies with volume.

Play 100 hands per hour at one table? You make 2% × 100 = your hourly rate.

Play 100 hands per hour across eight tables? That's 800 hands. Your hourly rate just 8x'd.

This is why professional online poker players multitable. Not because they're superhuman—but because they understood that a small edge, applied consistently across massive volume, compounds into serious returns.

The AI Parallel

Your "edge" with AI is the delta between what you could produce without it and what you produce with it. For most tasks, AI gives you somewhere between a 20% and 500% productivity boost, depending on the task.

But here's the key insight: that edge applies to every cognitive task you do.

Writing? AI helps.

Coding? AI helps.

Analysis? AI helps.

Research? AI helps.

Communication? AI helps.

Creative work? AI helps.

Now multiply that edge across every task, running in parallel, throughout your entire workday.

This is the actual opportunity. Not "AI will do my job for me." But "AI will make me 3-10x more productive across everything I already do."

The Coming Wave: Autonomous Agents

If you think multitabling with chatbots is powerful, wait until you see what's coming.

Right now, AI requires you to prompt it, read the response, and decide what to do next. You're still in the loop for every decision.

The next wave is autonomous agents—AI systems that can:

• Accept a goal ("research competitors and create a market analysis")
• Break it into subtasks
• Execute those subtasks in parallel
• Course-correct when they hit obstacles
• Deliver a finished product

As of 2025, we're seeing early versions of this. Tools like Devin (an "AI software engineer") can take a GitHub issue, plan a solution, write code, test it, and submit a fix—autonomously. It's not perfect yet (only resolving about 14% of issues fully autonomously), but the trajectory is clear.

By 2027, estimates suggest 50% of companies using generative AI will have deployed agentic systems. The market is projected to grow from $5 billion in 2024 to $47 billion by 2030.

This is the evolution from "AI assists me one task at a time" to "AI runs multiple workflows simultaneously while I focus on strategy."

It's multitabling on steroids.

Why Most People Won't Do This

Here's the uncomfortable truth: most people will read this and nod along, then go back to using AI exactly the way they did before.

Why?

Cognitive switching costs. Running multiple AI conversations requires mental overhead. You have to remember context, manage different threads, and switch gears constantly. Most people find this exhausting.

Workflow inertia. People are creatures of habit. If your workflow is "open laptop, check email, work on one thing, check email, work on one thing," adding parallel AI threads feels disruptive.

Underestimating the tool. If you think AI is "pretty good at writing but not much else," you won't bother trying it for analysis, coding, research, or creative work. Your mental model of the tool limits how you use it.

But here's the thing: the people who push through these barriers are the ones who will dominate the next decade.

Just like the poker players who embraced multitabling crushed the ones who insisted on playing one table "the right way."

A Practical Framework

Want to actually implement this? Here's how to start:

1. Audit your cognitive tasks

For one week, track every type of mental work you do. Writing, analysis, research, communication, planning, creative work. Get a list.

2. Test AI on each category

Spend 30 minutes trying AI on each task type. Don't assume it can't help—actually test it. You'll be surprised how many tasks it accelerates.

3. Set up parallel workflows

When you start work, open 3-5 AI conversations for different ongoing tasks. Research in one tab, drafting in another, analysis in a third. Switch between them as you wait for responses or need a mental break from one task.

4. Build the habit

The first week will feel awkward. By week three, it'll feel natural. By month two, you won't remember how you worked any other way.

The Stakes Are Higher Than You Think

In poker, if you refuse to multitable, you just make less money. The stakes are personal.

With AI, the stakes are civilizational.

We're in a global competition for productivity, innovation, and economic growth. The countries, companies, and individuals who figure out how to multiply their cognitive output will pull ahead. The ones who don't will fall behind.

This isn't about "keeping up with technology." It's about whether you want to be in the game at all.