The conversation around AI has evolved from adding simple features to existing processes. Companies are now grappling with fundamental organizational redesign, questioning the long-term need for roles like SDRs, junior developers, and large finance teams.

AI isn't a technology to be applied to existing processes. It's a foundational layer, like an operating system, that fundamentally reshapes how businesses create value, make decisions, and operate. This perspective forces a complete rethink of strategy, not just an upgrade.

Companies can either augment existing processes with AI for incremental efficiency (e.g., co-pilots) or completely redesign workflows. While augmentation is common, the most transformative value and disruptive business models will emerge from a clean-sheet redesign of how work is done.

The historical adoption of electricity in factories shows that true productivity gains came from redesigning the factory floor, not simply replacing steam engines. Similarly, companies must fundamentally re-engineer processes around AI to unlock its transformative potential.

True productivity gains from AI will mirror the adoption of electricity. Early factories that just replaced steam engines with electric motors saw little benefit. The revolution happened when they completely redesigned the factory floor around the new technology. Similarly, companies must reimagine entire workflows around human-AI collaboration.

The true power of AI is unlocked by adopting an "AI First" approach. This means completely redesigning workflows with AI at the core, rather than simply using AI to accelerate existing processes. This shifts employees' roles from performing tasks to managing the AI agents that do the work.

AI does more than speed up existing work. It unbundles traditional workflows, jobs, and organizations, allowing for fundamentally new structures to emerge. The real value is in this "reshuffle," not in simple efficiency gains on today's work.

Just as electricity's impact was muted until factory floors were redesigned, AI's productivity gains will be modest if we only use it to replace old tools (e.g., as a better Google). Significant economic impact will only occur when companies fundamentally restructure their operations and workflows to leverage AI's unique capabilities.

The productivity boom from AI won't materialize from workers simply using new tools. Citing historical parallels with electricity and computers, the real gains are unlocked only when companies fundamentally restructure their operations and business models around the technology.