Inception, Limbo, and the AI Trap

A practical take on AI productivity, creative flow, and the discipline of converting ideas into real-world output.

By Timmy Semenza, Boss Key LLC | Published February 26, 2026

I have seen Inception at least ten times.

If you think it is nonsense, or you have never seen it, this might not be your article. And yes, there are spoilers for a sixteen-year-old movie.

I keep coming back to limbo in Inception when I think about using AI.

In limbo, Cobb and Mal build everything: whole blocks of a city, a life, childhood homes, facsimiles of their children. They spend years constructing a full world.

And none of it is real.

That is the pitfall I see with AI. You can spend hours building polished workflows, clever automations, prompt systems, and prototype apps. You can feel like you are operating at a level you have never reached before. Sometimes you are.

And you can still end the day with nothing tangible.

I am not trying to make some alarmist point about AI and psychosis. I am not qualified to opine on that. I am talking about a much simpler risk: investing a lot of time and energy in a mental world that never cashes out in the real one.

Because that is what this can become. It is happening on your computer, but for all practical purposes, it is happening in your head.

If the work does not convert into a deliverable, it is still limbo.

So where is the line between productive ideation and spinning your wheels with cool tools?

Constraints.

If you are using AI daily, put a hard time box on exploration. Treat experimentation like a sprint, not a place to live. Then force a handoff to reality: send the proposal, ship the deliverable, publish the work, close the loop.

The next phase of work is going to reward people who can build with AI and stay anchored to outcomes.

Have fun coding. Have fun vibe coding. Have fun coming up with big ideas.

Just make sure you still did your actual job.