AI has quietly changed how founders need to filter people

Over the past couple of weeks I’ve been speaking to a few “technical” profiles after sharing what I’m building.

On the surface, some of them looked strong:

• thoughtful responses
• structured thinking
• good language

But when I looked closer something felt off.

What I’ve started noticing:

• Responses that sound intelligent but don’t actually engage with your specific problem
• People pushing quickly to move off platform (Telegram, Discord, email)
• Inconsistent identities (different photos, links, profiles that don’t match)
• No real follow-through when you introduce even small friction

AI now makes it very easy to sound like a great intelligent operator.

But sounding good and actually being able to own something are completely different things.

The real signal hasn’t changed:

• Do they engage specifically with your context?
• Do they reduce friction or create it?
• Do they follow through on simple next steps?
• Do they reduce founder load or keep things scattered by adding to it?

I’ve found that if someone doesn’t move cleanly early on, it only gets worse later.

No need to overreact or become paranoid but definitely worth being more intentional. Calm competenet operators want to be part of a serious company with business-minded founders.

Filter hard. Choose wisely.

Curious if others are seeing similar patterns.