The Coherence Gap: Why AI Progress Feels Uneven — and What We Can Do About It

Artificial intelligence is moving quickly — sometimes too quickly for the systems that surround it. While AI tools improve month by month, our institutions, workplaces, and everyday routines move at a different pace. This difference between how fast technology evolves and how fast society adapts is what we call the coherence gap.

And it’s becoming one of the defining issues of the AI era.

A World Moving in Two Speeds

Everyone can feel it:

• New AI tools appear weekly.

• Companies reorganize around automation.

• Skills become outdated faster than ever.

• Markets adjust unevenly — some sectors jump ahead, others stall.

Meanwhile:

• Education systems take years to update curriculum.

• Public administrations adapt slowly.

• Legal frameworks evolve cautiously.

• Social expectations change over generations, not quarters.

AI accelerates. Society adjusts. But not at the same rate.

This mismatch doesn’t just create confusion — it creates pressure.

Why Acceleration Alone Isn’t the Problem

It’s tempting to see the issue as “AI moving too fast. ”But acceleration itself is not the problem — disorganized acceleration is.

In every major technological transition, the challenge was never the existence of new tools. It was the lack of structure around them.

When institutions lag behind technological reality, we get:

• uneven benefits

• growing uncertainty

• stress in the workforce

• fragmented markets

• short-term winners and long-term instability

This is the coherence gap in action.

AI doesn’t destabilize society. The lack of coordination does.

How the Coherence Gap Shows Up in Daily Life

The gap isn’t abstract — people feel it every day:

• New tools promise efficiency, but workflows aren’t adapted yet.

• Public services digitize, but processes still require manual steps.

• Workers are told to “use AI,” but training arrives months later.

• Innovation creates value, but the value isn’t visible or shared.

It’s the uncomfortable sense that things should be smoother — because the technology is there — but the system hasn’t caught up.

This gap creates frustration, not because AI is overwhelming, but because the world around it feels out of sync.

Why the Coherence Gap Matters for the Economy

Left unaddressed, this gap becomes an economic risk:

• Productivity rises in pockets, not everywhere.

• Small businesses struggle to adapt.

• Workers face uncertainty instead of opportunity.

• Inequality can widen as some regions accelerate while others stall.

• Institutional trust erodes when systems feel outdated.

We’re not facing a technology crisis. We’re facing a coordination crisis.

And coordination can be fixed.

The D-Project: A Framework for Re-Alignment

The D-Project exists because coordination is not automatic. We need structures that help society absorb technological progress without leaving people behind.

Two ideas are central:

1. The AI Dividend

A clear, transparent measurement of the surplus created by AI.

Not a tax. Not a projection. A simple way to understand where value actually comes from.

2. The Coherence Dividend

The broader value created when systems — institutions, markets, communities — work better together.

This is the hidden value that people feel in their daily lives:

• fewer administrative loops

• smoother workflows

• services that work as expected

• reduced friction across systems

These two dividends give society a way to see, understand, and eventually benefit from AI-driven progress.

Why Now Is the Moment to Act

The coherence gap is still manageable. We are early in the transition, early enough to shape the direction of travel.

If we wait:

• gaps widen

• benefits concentrate

• trust declines

• instability grows

But if we act now — with clear measurement, shared understanding, and a coherent narrative — AI can strengthen society instead of stretching it.

Progress doesn’t have to pull us apart. With the right structures, it can pull us together.

Closing Thought

AI is accelerating. That’s not the problem.

The question is whether the rest of our systems can accelerate with it — thoughtfully, coherently, and in a way that supports everyone.

This is the purpose of the D-Project: to help society move at a pace that matches the technology shaping our future, and to ensure that the value created along the way is visible, understandable, and ultimately shared.

A coherent transition is a stable transition. And stability is the cornerstone of shared prosperity.