- AI-First Business by Jeff Sauer
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- Why mediocrity won't survive the AI revolution
Why mediocrity won't survive the AI revolution
Jeff Sauer
May 31, 2025
In partnership with
The extinction-level event for mediocre knowledge workers
I was thinking about Busta Rhymes the other day.
Not something I typically ponder, but my friend Mike King had Busta perform at an SEO conference in New York, and it got me thinking about Busta's album "Extinction Level Event."
That title feels eerily appropriate for what's happening right now with AI and knowledge work.
Let me be blunt: AI is an extinction-level event for mediocre knowledge workers.
I firmly believe that within the next few years, just 10% of workers will be doing most of the work in the information and knowledge economy.
The rest? They'll be scrambling to figure out what comes next.
This isn't doom-and-gloom talk. It's just reality.
Look at the patterns emerging already:
Companies quietly replacing contractors with AI
AI-first businesses asking "Do we need a human to do this?" before hiring
Knowledge work being consolidated among fewer, more productive people
The thing is, we've been here before as a society – just not in most of our lifetimes.
In the early 1900s, approximately 40% of Americans worked on farms (compared to 2% today).
Then came the shift to manufacturing. Later, we transitioned to the information economy I've known my entire career.
Each transition created winners and losers.
Each created new types of work we couldn't have imagined beforehand.
But this shift feels different. Faster. More comprehensive.
The question isn't whether new jobs will emerge – they will. The question is whether YOU will be positioned for them, or left behind.
You have two choices:
Join the 10% who embrace AI, become AI-first, and multiply your productivity 10x or even 100x and thrive in the next phase of your career
Continue as-is, knowing you'll likely face a completely different (and potentially less lucrative) career within a few years
I don't know exactly what comes next. Universal basic income? A return to local production with AI and robotics handling the heavy lifting? A completely new economic paradigm?
What I do know is that the middle ground – being "pretty good" at knowledge work – is disappearing.
That's why I've gone all-in on AI-first. Not because it's trendy, but because it's necessary.
The wake-up call is here. The question is whether you're listening.
What are you doing to position yourself in that top 10%?
Talk soon,
Jeff
P.S. Want to jump-start your AI-first journey? Join our next AI-First Challenge starting Tuesday, June 10th. There's still time to register. This isn't just another boring webinar – it's your ticket to being on the right side of this economic shift.
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