​Perspective 1

​AI is Eating the Traditional Business Model for Breakfast

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Business is not the same, it’s not business as usual.
 
 We are standing right in the middle of one of the biggest shifts in business history. And the surprising thing is, it’s not just about technology. It’s about what that technology is quietly doing to everything we thought we knew about success.

For decades, business has been built around a few simple ideas: work harder, get bigger, become more efficient, make more profit. If you could grow faster than your competitors, you won. If you could streamline operations and cut costs, you stayed ahead. That’s the game most businesses have been playing for years.

But now, AI (artificial intelligence) has changed the rules completely.

AI isn’t just another productivity tool. It’s something much more disruptive. Suddenly, things that used to require huge teams, years of experience, or massive investment can now be done instantly, automatically, and at almost no cost. What once took years of expertise can now be generated in seconds by an AI system.

Processes can be automated. Entire business models can be copied and even improved upon by others who are using the same technology. Success stories aren’t protected anymore - they’re wide open to be studied, copied, and replicated by anyone with access to AI tools. And today, almost everyone has access.

Ironically, the companies that used to be safest - the large, established organisations with complex systems, are often the most vulnerable now. Their size, once an advantage, makes them easier targets for imitation. The very structures that helped them dominate now expose them to rapid replication.

It’s not just about competition anymore. It’s about replication happening at lightning speed. New players can pop up overnight, copying the best strategies, products, and processes with just a few clicks. They can cherry-pick the most successful elements of any business model and roll them out immediately.

In this new AI-driven landscape, the playing field is being completely flattened. There’s no longer a meaningful barrier to entry. Capital, infrastructure and expertise used to separate winners from everyone else, but AI has largely erased those advantages.

And so we’re left with a big question: What actually makes a business valuable when anything can be copied?

This is where leaders face their biggest challenge. Adopting AI tools is easy - everyone is doing it. The real test is much deeper. It’s about being willing to rethink your business from the ground up. The question isn’t just how to use AI, but how to build something that AI can’t replicate.

To survive and thrive, leaders need to dismantle the old business box entirely. They need to let go of the preoccupation with productivity, efficiency, and profit as the key measures of success. Instead, they will need to focus on the one area where AI has no power: human meaning, purpose, and connection.

In this new world, businesses that succeed won’t be the ones that automate fastest or cut costs the furthest.

They will be the ones that offer something that can’t be replicated: trust, relationships, authenticity, and real human impact.

The question for every leader now isn’t: How can we get better at what we do? It’s: What can we create that nobody else can copy?

​That’s where the future of business begins.