Every day we read a story on LinkedIn about how someone built an app using an AI. The impression given is that in the future we are all going to become a mini software company. But there is a strong bias here. Unlike the many engineers and founders that occupy your attention, most people just want to do their jobs better. My accountant doesn’t want to spin up an agentic work-flow, as much as our factory manager wants to stitch together API’s. AI won’t turn workers into app developers, but it could turn good software into a better co-worker.

Recently, Inc. reported on Steve Jobs’ 1981 strategy to replace typewriters with computers. They renamed the position ‘secretary’ to ‘area associate’ and encouraged all employees to use Apple computers at work and at home. What the leadership at Apple understood was that computers would enable employees to be more effective in their jobs, and it would change expectations. It occurred to me that what we can learn from Apple is that the winners in an AI-enabled era will be those who can redesign roles, workflows, and decision-processes successfully.

And a note of warning, we are also being hammered with messages from business leaders that promise that if we don’t invest heavily in AI today, we are forever lost. I believe the overzealous optimists are in for an uncomfortable surprise. The companies that matter in AI in ten years from now are likely not the ones spending the most money today. The winners are those who know how to use the technology to create better operating models. Technology will win at scale when it disappears into the workflow, not when employees have to become technologist to benefit.