In the rapidly evolving world of artificial intelligence, Piers Linney, ex-Dragon and founder of Implement AI, stands at the forefront with bold perspectives on how enterprises should approach this technological shift.
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Established in early 2023, Implement AI has evolved from helping organizations understand AI to deploying what Piers now calls an “AI OS” – a comprehensive approach to embedding artificial intelligence throughout business operations.
Beyond Implementation: The AI-First Philosophy
Rather than merely incorporating AI into existing workflows, Piers advocates for a complete reimagining of business with AI as the foundation.
In 50 years, you’ll be buying humanoid robots to look after your mom, simple as that. But let’s pull it back to five years. Look where we are now. You wouldn’t imagine where we are now two years ago, so you cannot see into this future right now.
His vision extends beyond incremental improvements to a fundamental shift in how businesses operate, comparing our current moment to previous industrial revolutions but with a crucial difference.
The previous ones were all [based on the development of] tools… things that humans used to get work done. But in this industrial revolution we’re deploying and developing intelligence. So the agents can use the tools.
The Race Against Exponential Change
Drawing parallels to historical technological shifts, Piers warns that AI adoption isn’t following traditional patterns. Unlike cloud computing, which evolved over decades, AI’s trajectory is dramatically steeper.
In an exponential world, exponential change is very difficult to catch up…I gave a speech last year about transitioning the financial services sector to the cloud. I used the same notes that I used in a similar talk eight years ago. That is not going to happen in AI. We have to update our slides and what we do weekly, almost – the pace is changing so rapidly.
This acceleration creates both opportunity and urgency.
Organizations slow to adapt risk being left permanently behind as the gap between AI-enabled businesses and laggards widens exponentially.
Transforming Knowledge Work
Piers doesn’t shy away from bold predictions about AI’s impact on knowledge industries.
AI will productize, commoditize and make knowledge work, cognitive labor, all the things that I’ve done – I’ve been a lawyer, I’ve got an accountant degree, I’ve been a banker – all those expensive knowledge work jobs, they’re going to zero.
Rather than focusing on job displacement, however, he sees opportunity in augmentation and talent redeployment.
Where’s talent going to go? The organization where they’re augmented or where they’re not? That’s going to be the war for talent. The next generation you want to hire is going to expect to be augmented.
The implications extend beyond individual career trajectories to structural economic shifts. Piers envisions a future where the traditional work week eventually shrinks dramatically. “I’ve heard rumblings of a two-day work week in the future,” he notes. “That is inevitable.”
Practical Implementation Challenges
Despite his futuristic outlook, Piers remains grounded in present realities. His company Implement AI focuses on measurable ROI and operational deployment, rather than theoretical possibilities.
It’s not about the PR frontier, it’s about the technology frontier. It’s about operationally what you can deploy today where there’s a measurable ROI…People will push back, but what we do at Implement AI is set up pilots, take the organization with you, show them the ROI, and then you’ll find that stakeholders buy into it quite quickly.
This practical approach has helped Implement AI work with organizations ranging from small businesses to billion-dollar enterprises across education, recruitment, and various other sectors – all united by the recognition that AI transformation isn’t just coming; it’s already here.
Interestingly, Piers has observed a reversal in typical adoption patterns.
Usually with adoption, it’s the small companies first. In AI, you’ll notice it’s the big companies, it’s governments… Big companies are serious about it. They’ve done the research, and they know what’s coming.
This top-down adoption may eventually create pressure on mid-sized organizations to accelerate their own AI transformations or risk competitive disadvantage.
The Unchartered AI Territory
So, if we’re truly at the beginning of an exponential curve, what awaits beyond the “fog” of the next five years?
The most provocative possibility isn’t that AI will reshape business as we know it—but that it might render our very concept of “business” obsolete.
When intelligence itself becomes a commodity, perhaps the true revolution won’t be in how enterprises implement AI, but in how humanity redefines value, purpose, and work in an age when thinking itself is no longer exclusively human.
