What AI Can Never Replace

These lies are spreading like a virus right now: “AI just ended x industry.” “AI will remove the need for work.” Followed by panicked predictions that humanity has lost its purpose.

Many would have you believe in a future where no one has any purpose and every task both menial and complex is completed by a bot with no moral judgement, no gut checks, no work ethic, and no soul.

They want you to believe that in the glorious future of steel and silicon, humanity's only purpose is to hedonistically live out our days gorging ourselves on whatever food our robot butlers bring and mindlessly numbing our brains with whatever entertainment is served up on our VR headsets.

But we know better than to believe this nonsense.

We know that when the horseless carriage came around, it didn't reduce the reasons or desire to travel.

We know that personal computers didn't mean the end of human innovation, but were instead a stepping stone taking us closer to the stars.

Ultimately, we know that humans are made to complete great work alongside one another.

That fact won't change just because the technology is faster and shinier.

Who will help employers build relationships with customers? Who will help them see past blind spots? Who is going to say “this idea is dumb” instead of robotically repeating “Great idea!” to every awful thought?

If your answer is just “AI,” then you have no idea how real life problems are solved. Yes we have new tech, but no, it can't replace the need to surround yourself with wise, skilled, virtuous people.

Yes we have new tech, but no, it can't replace the need to surround yourself with wise, skilled, virtuous people.

Business owners will always need people with moral judgement. People who can sacrifice. People who know that they aren't the center of the universe but they'll work their entire lives to leave the greatest impact that they can.

From the first garden and the first wheel to the first man on the moon, humans have demonstrated that they have a unique design, desire, and talent for finding problems to solve and solving them, regardless of how unlikely the odds.

When you put the right mission-driven people together, history is following closely on their heels.

This is why we do what we do at RedBalloon.

We know that every great business is built by wise ambitious people who want to deliver a return on the skills and gifts they have. And the need for business owners to find those wise and ambitious people won't go away. Quite the opposite, that need is about to explode.

Now, as tech is increasingly abundant, judgement and wisdom are what give you an edge. The businesses that win won't just be the ones with the right tools, they will be the ones who have the right people. And wise people are irreplaceable.

The future belongs to those wise enough to lean into how humans are designed, not the ones who kick against it.