“Stop Hiring Humans”
That’s the message plastered across billboards by an AI company.
In recent months, CEOs across industries have taken to the stage and earnings calls with a provocative message: artificial intelligence enables organizations to do more with fewer people. The prevailing business logic is clear—automate, streamline, and reduce headcount while boosting productivity.
But this framing assumes that organizations alone will own the benefits of AI, much like past technological revolutions where gains were concentrated in the hands of a few. From the steam engine to electricity to computing, every wave of innovation primarily benefited those who controlled capital. Workers adapted—but rarely led the transition.
The common assumption right now is that once again, organizations—not individuals—are positioned to reap the rewards of AI. LinkedIn’s Work Change Report reveals that 88% of C-suite leaders are prioritizing AI adoption, and 51% of AI-adopting businesses have already seen revenue increases. Within the current employer-driven paradigm, where economic security remains tied to traditional jobs, these organizations replace people to grow productivity. According to the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report, 41% of employers intend to downsize their workforce as AI’s capabilities to replicate roles expand.
Leaders are assuming AI will create billion-dollar companies with no employees.
But what if it’s the other way around?
What if AI enables the rise of billion-dollar individuals with no companies?
Beyond Knowledge Work: The Innovation Economy
In a conversation for an upcoming podcast, Aneesh Raman, LinkedIn’s Chief Economic Opportunity Officer, described a fundamental transformation—from industrial labor to knowledge work, and now to an economy built around human skills that AI cannot replace.
He explained that throughout history, “the story of work has never been the story of humans at work, it’s been the story of technology at work.” As a result, workers were forced to fit into systems optimized for efficiency rather than human potential. The industrial age relied on manual labor, the computing era elevated knowledge work, and now AI is automating many cognitive tasks.
So what’s left for humans to do?
According to Raman, what remains essential are uniquely human capabilities—skills he’s calling “the five C’s” including curiosity, creativity, communication, compassion, and courage. As AI takes over routine tasks, the skills that make us uniquely human are not disappearing—they’re becoming more valuable. LinkedIn data shows a 31% increase in the emphasis on human skills among U.S. executives over the past five years, with communication as the most in-demand skill of 2024.
This shift isn’t hypothetical—it’s already happening. More than 10% of global roles today—and 20% in the U.S.—didn’t exist in 2000. LinkedIn members have been adding new skills to their profiles at 2.4 times the rate they did just a few years ago, spanning both technical and human-centric skills. And the pace is only accelerating—by 2030, 70% of job skills will change, driven by AI.
In other words, whether you plan to change jobs or not—your job is about to change on you.
The Rise of the “Billion-Dollar Person”
If AI can run operations, marketing, customer service, and logistics, why do individuals even need large companies to innovate and create?
What if the most powerful economic entities of the future aren’t companies at all? The assumption that AI will only lead to billion-dollar companies with no employees ignores a more radical possibility: the rise of billion-dollar individuals—people who build their own AI-driven economic engines, independent of traditional corporate structures.
Historically, new technologies concentrated economic power in the hands of a few. But AI is different—it’s breaking that pattern by making advanced tools available to individuals, not just corporations. This shift creates a massive opportunity for people to leverage AI to build careers, businesses, and economic independence outside of traditional employment structures. AI could empower solo entrepreneurs to scale businesses at unprecedented speed. Already today, a single creator can automate content production, customer engagement, and financial operations, running a media or consulting empire from a laptop.
But this shift doesn’t mean working alone. Collaborative AI-powered communities could emerge, where small groups of independent professionals pool AI tools, share physical and digital infrastructure, and create new, decentralized economic models—ones that don’t rely on corporate structures.
At the same time, as AI reduces the cost of products and services, it could accelerate the rise of a passion economy, where individuals no longer need traditional employment to make a living. Artists, educators, and niche experts could build global audiences and turn personal interests into scalable businesses—without requiring a corporate platform to sustain them.
The dominant AI narrative focuses on how organizations can do more with fewer people. But an equally powerful reality is emerging: how people can do more with fewer organizations.
The tools are here. The trends are clear.
The only question is: will we shape the future, or will we allow old systems to shape us?
The future of work won’t be decided by AI—it will be decided by us.
