AI will amplify inequality. Quartier is my way of doing something about it
I work with AI every day. And there's something that seems obvious to me: artificial intelligence is going to amplify inequality. Those who use it multiply their productivity. Those who don't stay where they are. And the gap between the two grows every month.
The gap ahead
AI isn't going to replace all jobs overnight. But it will make anyone who uses it dramatically more productive. On my own, with an AI assistant, I can do in an afternoon what would have taken me a week with a team three years ago. Proposals, websites, analysis, content.
It's like the tractor and the hoe. You can pay a farmer with a tractor 100 euros an hour or one with a hoe 1 euro an hour. The one with the tractor is still more cost-effective. AI is the tractor. And whoever doesn't have it, no matter how cheaply they work, can't compete.
This creates a new kind of inequality. It's not just the usual one. It's a gap between those who know how to use these tools and those who don't even know they exist. Between those who have the room to experiment and those who can't afford to.
And the gap widens fast, because you don't improve a little each month: each month you get more out of it than the last. Whoever starts late, starts at a disadvantage.
What I built
On paper, AI helps with countless things. But giving it a practical use, something someone can actually make a living from, is a different story. So I tried to build exactly that.
I built Quartier: an open source toolkit that lets anyone offer web redesigns to local businesses using AI.
There are millions of businesses with websites that look like they're from 2008. The bakery down your street, the car repair shop, the physiotherapy clinic. Their owners know the website is bad, but they don't have the time or anyone to ask at a reasonable price.
Quartier searches for those businesses on Google Maps, analyzes their current website, scrapes it entirely, and the AI generates a professional redesign. You don't need to know how to code. You need Docker installed, an AI assistant, and the willingness to talk to shop owners in your area. The AI handles the technical side; you bring the face, the trust, and the knowledge of your neighborhood.
Why open source
If the tool costs money, the people who need it most can't use it. So it's MIT licensed: someone in Dakar, Bogota, or Casablanca can use the same thing as someone in Bilbao. No payment, no permission needed. If they want to modify it, sell it, or adapt it to their market, go ahead.
I'm not trying to save the world
This is not a charity project or a manifesto. It's a tool I published because I think it can be useful. Maybe it helps a lot of people, maybe just a few. I don't know.
If someone somewhere gets their first clients with this, the credit is theirs. I just put some tools in a repository. What I want is for anyone who wants to try making a living with this to have a starting point. What they do from there is up to them.
The code is on GitHub: github.com/EnriqueLop/quartier