The Startling Fact That AI Will Strangle Your Company

Launching a startup today has new competitive risks. In an instant, even the most sophisticated technology or expert service could be duplicated by AI at an impossible cost.

For years, it was said that AI could not take the job of a Software Engineer, Scientist, or Creative Professional. However, we are already seeing this happen on multiple fronts.

What is rarely mentioned is that AI will make most companies obsolete.

Machine vs. human expert

My first AI company focused on helping organizations realize those in their pipeline most likely to become customers. We sold it by reading the data in the prospect's CRM and generating a report of their ideal customer along with who in the CRM fit the criteria.

This AI determined the attributes most important for a prospect to become a customer by going deep into each prospect in the database. For example, female physicians with a specialty in orthopedics who play tennis, drink red wine, and are members of the chamber of commerce.

When presenting this report to the VP of Sales, they often disagreed with the results. After showing the CEO, they questioned the VP of Sales. "You told me we had 120 good prospects in the pipeline, but now I learn we just have 15," is similar to how most CEOs would respond to their sales leader.

In many of these instances, the VP of Sales lost the trust of leadership because the machine was believed more than the human expert.

How to compete

The only way to compete with an all-knowing AI is to focus on areas the machine cannot or does not do well. For technology, this involves the interface between humans and technology—in other words, the customer experience.

Building trust

While many understand that machines are fallible, the truth is that for decades, they have been treated as if they are not. This attitude will be carried into the AI revolution with problematic results. Regardless, you have to build trust over the machine with customer interactions.

Conclusion

As you read, AI duplicates relationships, expert knowledge, experience, and creativity. However, regardless of how advanced an AI becomes, it does not know what it is like to be human. Therefore, a machine can never duplicate companies focusing on improving human interactions.