I Get Paid For The Attempt

Dave Chappelle has a bit where he recounts a time in Detroit when he bombed during a performance.  He wasn’t drunk like the newspapers alleged, but he had smoked weed with a rapper right before he went on stage and it wrecked him.  He admits he was terrible.

A woman in a Ford t-shirt stands up in the back and yells, “I saved up for weeks Dave Chappelle, you suck!”  The crowd bands together and starts chanting, “We want our money back!  We want our money back!”

Reeling, Chappelle snaps out of his daze.  “Good people of Detroit!  Hear me and hear me now!

You will NEVER get your money back. I’m like Evil Knievel - I get paid for the attempt.”

In our business, we can’t use that excuse.  We get paid for results.  Maybe that’s why AI frustrates me at times - I want perfection while it is bragging about how hard it tried.  And sometimes its hallucinations make it sound like it was just hanging out with a rapper.

But even at his worst, Dave Chappelle is still the best.  Maybe Chappelle got better because he was willing to bomb.  I don’t expect perfection out of a teammate, why do I expect it out of AI that costs me $20 a month?

I have seen Dave Chappelle live and I would have been disappointed if he had bombed (he killed).  I went to the Super Bowl two weeks ago and would have been bummed if the Eagles hadn’t won (they killed).  I think it’s fair to be disappointed when AI doesn’t give me the results I want, but it’s not fair to say it didn’t work.

Maybe that’s the real lesson from Chappelle’s Detroit disaster: the attempt itself has value even when it’s messy.  Every stumble teaches us something new.  I’m not rooting for it to bomb, but I do try to see the win in the try.  Like Chappelle, me and AI are getting better with every set.  

I’ll focus on applauding AI’s efforts over demanding a refund - it’s the attempt that builds something worth the stage.