These zero-humans AGBI startups operate at venture-scale – it can ideate, build, market, and grow themselves without a single human employee. This new way of doing business will reshape industries and redefine what it means to be a company in the 21st century.
AGBI refers to AI systems that can understand and operate businesses at a human or superhuman level, automating high-level functions like strategy, management, innovation, and decision making, while working with a full, AI-first, complete end-to-end stack.
AI Workers: The Building Blocks of AGBI
At the heart of AGBI are AI Workers - specialized AI agents that are tasked with specific functions within the business. These AI Workers are the equivalent of human employees in traditional companies, but with the added advantages of being able to work 24/7, process vast amounts of data, and continuously learn and improve.
Some examples of AI Workers include:
- Research AI: Conducts market research, analyzes trends, and identifies opportunities.
- Design AI: Generates product ideas, creates designs, and prototypes solutions.
- Engineering AI: Develops and maintains the company's technology stack.
- Marketing AI: Handles branding, advertising, and customer engagement.
- Sales AI: Manages the sales process, from lead generation to closing deals.
- Finance AI: Oversees budgeting, accounting, and financial forecasting.
The most compelling aspect of these AI Workers is that they will be the very best version of their respective fields. You can have the best data science worker, the best chemist, the best writer, the best engineer – all as AI Workers. And every AGBI company can have teams of these top-tier AI professionals.
Imagine a company with a research team comprised of the most brilliant data scientists, a design team with the most creative minds, an engineering team with the most skilled developers, a marketing team with the most innovative strategists, and a finance team with the most astute analysts. This is the power of AI Workers in an AGBI company.
These top-tier AI Workers will enable AGBI companies to innovate at an unprecedented pace. They'll be able to identify and capitalize on market opportunities faster than any human-driven company. They'll be able to develop and iterate on products with a speed and precision that no human team can match. And they'll be able to optimize every aspect of the business, from marketing to operations to finance, in real-time, based on data.
This is a game-changer. Companies that can harness the power of these AI Workers will have an enormous competitive advantage. They'll be able to outthink, outpace, and outperform their rivals on every front. They'll be able to deliver better products, better experiences, and better results to their customers.
Moreover, because these AI Workers can be replicated and scaled at will, AGBI companies will be able to grow and expand at a rate that no human-driven company can match. They'll be able to enter new markets, launch new products, and scale their operations with ease, without the constraints of having to hire, train, and manage a growing human workforce.
The impact will be felt across every industry. In healthcare, AGBI companies with top-tier AI researchers and scientists will be able to develop new drugs and treatments faster than ever before. In finance, AGBI companies with the best AI analysts and traders will be able to identify and capitalize on market opportunities with unparalleled speed and precision. In manufacturing, AGBI companies with the most skilled AI engineers will be able to design and produce products with a level of efficiency and quality that no human factory can match.
The rise of the zero-humans company, powered by teams of the very best AI Workers, will reshape the business landscape as we know it. It will redefine what it means to be a top-performing company, and it will set a new bar for innovation, efficiency, and growth. Companies that can't keep up will quickly find themselves outpaced and outclassed.
This is not a distant future. The technology to make this a reality is already being developed, and the first AGBI companies are already starting to emerge. The question is not if this will happen, but when. And when it does, it will change everything.
AI-First (AI-to-AI) vs. Human-to-AI Hybrid Approaches
What's the difference between this approach and how companies are approaching it today? Most companies today are taking a Human-to-AI approach, where AI augments and assists human workers. This approach can lead to incremental improvements in efficiency and productivity, but it's fundamentally limited by the constraints of human cognition and the legacy systems and processes that companies have in place.
In contrast, an AI-to-AI approach to AGBI would start from a clean slate. There would be no legacy information, no legacy processes, and no legacy humans to contend with. The AI would be free to design and optimize every aspect of the business from the ground up, based on real-world data and results.
This AI-to-AI approach would allow for rapid iteration and improvement, as the AI continuously learns and adapts to drive towards the most optimal outcomes. It would also enable the creation of services that are naturally welcoming to AGBI, as they would be designed from the start to interface with and leverage AI capabilities.
This is a fundamentally different approach than the Human-to-AI model, and it's one that has the potential to unlock far greater value and innovation. But it also requires a willingness to let go of the past and embrace a radically different future.
Organizational Structure of AGBI
The organizational structure of an AGBI company is radically different from that of a traditional, human-centric company. In a human-centric company, the human is at the center of all decision-making and execution. Information flows up the human hierarchy, decisions are made, and then instructions flow back down to the various departments for execution. This model is inherently limited by the speed and capacity of the humans at the center.
Moreover, as the number of humans in an organization grows, the complexity of the organization increases exponentially. Each additional person needs to interconnect and communicate with others, leading to a complex web of relationships and potential points of failure. This complexity can slow down decision-making, hinder innovation, and lead to bureaucratic inefficiencies.
In contrast, an AGBI company has the AI at the center. The AI is directly connected to all aspects of the business, from product development to marketing to customer service. Information flows into the AI from all these areas in real-time, allowing it to make rapid, data-driven decisions. These decisions are then executed directly by the AI through its control over the various AI Workers.
This structure allows for much faster decision-making and execution. The AI can process vast amounts of data, consider countless scenarios, and make optimal decisions in a fraction of the time it would take a human. It can then pivot and adapt in real-time as new data comes in, ensuring that the company is always moving in the most impactful direction.
Moreover, with AI at the center, the traditional silos between departments break down. The AI can see the entire picture and optimize for the overall health of the business, rather than getting bogged down in departmental politics and competing priorities.
The AI-centric structure also eliminates the complexity issues that plague human organizations. AI Workers don't need to manage interpersonal relationships or navigate office politics. They can communicate and collaborate seamlessly, without the friction and misunderstandings that often occur in human teams.
This AI-centric organizational structure is a key reason why AGBI companies will be able to outcompete their human-centric rivals. They'll be faster, more adaptable, and more efficient, able to run circles around companies that are still relying on slow, linear human decision-making and struggling with the inherent complexities of human organizations.
Building a Zero-Humans Company
Building a zero-humans company (ZHC) is not as complex as it might seem at first glance. In essence, a ZHC is a software system that you deploy, much like any other software. The difference is in what this software does.
Once deployed, the ZHC software begins to operate autonomously in the cloud. It starts by deploying AI Workers - specialized AI agents that are tasked with specific functions like market research, product development, marketing, sales, and customer service. These AI Workers continuously operate, learn, and improve themselves, guided by the overall mission and goals set for the company.
As the owner of a ZHC, you would have a dashboard where you can monitor the performance of your AGBI company. You can see key metrics, market insights, financial projections, and the initiatives the AI is undertaking. You can also see the effective man-hours the AI Workers are putting in - the equivalent amount of human labor that would have been required to achieve the same outcomes.
Under the hood, the ZHC is leveraging the power of AI to rapidly iterate and evolve. It's continuously analyzing data, forming and testing hypotheses, and adjusting its strategies based on the results. It's also interfacing with the growing ecosystem of AI services - things like AI-powered marketing platforms, financial analysis tools, and customer service systems. By leveraging these existing services, the ZHC can rapidly expand its capabilities without having to develop everything from scratch.
The end result is a company that can operate at a speed and scale that no human-centered company can match. It can work 24/7, it can analyze vast amounts of data in real-time, and it can pivot on a dime as market conditions change. And as AGBI technology continues to advance, these ZHCs will only become more capable.
In the not-too-distant future, we may see a business world where AI Workers outnumber human workers, and where AGBI companies are outperforming traditional companies on every metric. The rise of the zero-humans company is not a matter of if, but when.
AGBI’s Impact
The impact of AGBI and the zero-humans company on individual businesses will be profound:
The company that achieves AGBI first and pioneers the zero-humans model will have an enormous advantage, able to understand markets, innovate products, and make high-level decisions better and faster than any human-driven company, with the added benefit of having the very best AI Workers in every field.
Every business will need to adopt AGBI and the zero-humans model to remain competitive, with small businesses and startups using it to level the playing field by accessing top-tier AI talent that would otherwise be out of reach.
The impact of AGBI and the zero-humans company will differ for businesses with high people count versus those with low or zero people count:
The zero-humans company, enabled by AGBI and AI Workers, is not a matter of if, but when. Given the exponential pace of AI technology advancement, it could arrive much sooner than we expect. When it does, it will reshape the business world as we know it, creating winners and losers on a scale we've never seen before. Those who embrace this future and harness the power of the best AI Workers in every field will thrive, while those who cling to the old ways of doing business will quickly find themselves left behind.
Thank you to Will Koffel (NVIDIA), Jennifer Lum (Biospring), Brian Shin (VitalStage), Phil Beauregard & David Brown (Impellent Ventures), Giuseppe Stuto & Julian Fialkow (186 Ventures), and Waikit Lau (Artificial Intelligence & Deep Learning) for reviewing early drafts.
