You probably saw the headline. “AI jobs will be reduced.” “Automizing humans.” Some CEOs are proud of it.
Openai CEO Sam Altman says that thanks to AI Advances, the next $1 billion company could be made up of one person. Humanity CEO Dario Amody believes AI can eliminate almost half of its entry-level white-collar work in five years
Already this year, Microsoft and Intel have led the charges, with over 64,000 people being fired across the tech sector as AI is the main driver.
People innovate, ai imitate
This is not only shortsighted, but it is fundamentally a bad business. Today, businesses cutting people in the name of AI will be one to catch up tomorrow.
There is no doubt that the less AI is better at doing more. Speed up the process, reduce repetitive tasks, and come back. However, AI itself cannot create next-generation products and services.
A business that wins in the long term is an innovative business. That creates a new product. It rethinks how things should work and find radical breakthroughs that will impress customers in new ways.
The data backs up it. McKinsey found that companies that burn innovation into their culture are 3.5 times more likely than their competitors.
And history also supports that. In the early 2000s, it had a strong profit and a large customer base. But what it lacked was the foresight that used its main position to construct the next wave of value. Netflix built it instead.
And such creative thinking still comes only from people. Ultimately, it comes down to this: AI doesn't invent. Recycle it. Trained with other people's ideas, mimic patterns, and do not jump curves.
It's not a flaw. That's how AI is designed. As academic mark Runco states, “AI can only create artificial creativity.” It can support creative people, but it cannot replace them.
If your strategy is to fire people who can create the next big thing, then good luck. It may drive the ship closer, at least in the short term, but don't be surprised if the product roadmap begins to flatten.
How AI can actually unleash creativity
So, if you are leading a large company, what should you do instead? Keep your talent. Tell your team to use the extra time released with AI to innovate. Give your people the headroom you think.
The world's most successful, and perhaps more importantly, it started out as a side project within Google, as a by-product of Gmail and Adsense. It's not because they were asked to do so. But because smart people had the space and time to explore.
Imagine the same people have become redundant quarters before. That's exactly what's happening right now.
Too many leaders are increasing the efficiency of AI and passing them straight to the end result. They juiculate short-term profits and call them innovation.
AI Limitations
And that's before you take into account the risk that many of these so-called “efficiencies” may never be realized. For all AI hype, humanity has no great track record when it comes to predicting the future. If the magazines of the 1950s and 1960s were correct, we had worked with the Jetpack to commute to clean our homes with the nuclear Hoover by now.
The same may apply here. Embedding AI into real business processes is particularly difficult, especially when it comes to sophisticated knowledge tasks. There are technical limitations, privacy minefields, and open issues with how AI agents fix or debug when they leave the course.
So, some companies that are laying off staff today could quietly rehire them in a few years.
Overall, winners are not the deepest cut companies. They will keep the right people, give them space and use AI to further boost their creativity.
AI is rewriting business rules. The key now is how to use it. If one company sees the opportunity to cut staff, another sees the opportunity to build something new.
Only one of them has led the market in five years.
The opinions expressed in Fortune.com's comments are the views of their authors and do not necessarily reflect any opinions or beliefs. luck.
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