Understanding AI project — candidate core tensions from Kiran: (1) AI can outperform him on bounded tasks yet becomes unreliable on complex, open-ended work without guidance; (2) AI provides instant answers but may not create real expertise or understanding of why/how; (3) AI will automate some tasks and create new ones, so the practical question is what to automate versus what new work to learn; (4) AI may be a genuine technological leap while the capital cycle around it could still be a financial bubble, and timing bubbles is unreliable; (5) AI gives small business owners access to capabilities once unaffordable, but extracting that value still requires substantial thinking and planning; (6) AI can expand human thinking but can also become a substitute for core thinking.