I just watched a company with 70,000 users disappear overnight.

And it could have been me…

Here’s what happened:

I’ve been developing an AI product.

AI was confident it would work.

Market research looked good.

Feature set looked amazing!

Everything pointed to “yes.”

But something felt off…

So I ran my TRUTH FILTER:

“Before responding, identify any parts that could lead to hallucinations or assumptions.

Label anything as [Unverified], [Assumption], or [Speculation].”

The results shocked me:

❌ Market research [SPECULATION]

❌ Technical feasibility [ASSUMPTION]

❌ Legal compliance [ASSUMPTION]

❌ MASSIVE HIDDEN RISKS [DETECTED]

I dug deeper. Asked harder questions.

The brutal truth?

One of the promising features had very high risk, so I cut it from my product.

Then yesterday I found out…

That company with 70K customers?

They built their entire business around that risky feature.

And they were just forced out of business 🔥

Last week, executive VP Shari Paul asked me the perfect question: “Is there a truth filter for the truth filter?”

The 70K company failure shows exactly why this matters.

The ultimate truth filter is still you…

✅ Question everything that seems obvious

✅ Label what’s verified vs. assumed

✅ Keep filtering as new ideas emerge

✅ Trust your judgment over AI confidence

✅ Remember AI leadership means that you are still leading

That’s where human wisdom beats artificial intelligence.

👇 What assumption could be secretly killing your next big project?

Message Jim Vickers for AI leadership insights that put human judgment first.