Writing for Fast Company, Think Big Technology Founder and CEO Omar Hafez makes the case that the major technology trends of the past few decades have all pursued one goal: access to information. The internet created it, smartphones made it portable, and the cloud made it available anywhere. One resource, however, has never been made equally accessible — expertise.
Across construction, finance, healthcare, and manufacturing, a significant amount of valuable knowledge stays locked inside the minds of experienced workers. It is gained through years of on-the-job experience and is difficult to transfer. That makes expertise a bottleneck for growth: when you need the judgment of a senior professional, you are limited by their availability, location, and capacity.
Omar argues that most of the conversation around AI centers on automation, which overlooks the bigger opportunity — capturing expertise and distributing it at scale. By thoughtfully encoding decades of subject-matter knowledge into AI systems, organizations can make expert-level judgment available to everyone who needs it.
The stakes are highest in industries facing a knowledge cliff. In construction alone, more than one in five workers are now 55 or older, putting decades of institutional knowledge at risk of walking out the door at retirement. These industries don't just face information shortages, they face expertise shortages.
He also cautions against the way most organizations approach the problem. Too many start by asking what they can automate, then force their problems into whatever technology is available. Building systems that genuinely help people takes patience, empathy, and a deep understanding of the problem — shifting the focus from building capabilities to building outcomes.
Construction offers a clear example: rather than replacing engineers with AI, firms are giving engineers instant access to the knowledge and decision-making patterns of their most experienced designers, cutting design time from hours to minutes while the engineer remains responsible for the final judgment.
His conclusion: information helped power the digital economy, and accessible expertise will help transform entire industries.