Paul Welty, PhD AI, WORK, AND STAYING HUMAN

Bookmark: Goodbye digital transformation, hello AI-first business transformation

Bookmark: Goodbye digital transformation, hello AI-first business transformation
Embrace AI-first transformation to innovate and streamline business operations, breaking down silos and enhancing decision-making for exponential growth.

A fitting quote from the article is: “AI is pushing for reinvention, innovation, and the exploration of the art of the possible.”
Goodbye digital transformation, hello AI-first business transformation

The article discusses the transition from digital transformation to AI-first business transformation. It argues that the digital transformation approach primarily focused on digitalizing existing models rather than fundamentally transforming business paradigms. Many companies digitized legacy processes, which led to complexity and silos rather than true transformation. The emergence of AI offers a new opportunity to genuinely transform businesses by making processes more efficient and rethinking operations in an AI-centric manner. Unlike the digital revolution that often reinforced inefficiencies, AI demands a reevaluation of how businesses operate and measure success. It necessitates breaking down silos and creating interconnected systems where intelligence flows across functions, enhancing decision-making and unlocking new efficiencies. This transformation requires integrating AI to not only automate but also augment capabilities, moving towards a connected enterprise where AI helps orchestrate workflows and drive strategic impacts. Ultimately, the shift involves adopting a mindset that embraces AI as a core element of business operations, leading to exponential growth and innovation.


Featured writing

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Books

The Work of Being (in progress)

A book on AI, judgment, and staying human at work.

The Practice of Work (in progress)

Practical essays on how work actually gets done.

Recent writing

When teaching stops being bounded

AI removes the constraints that gave teaching its shape—one teacher, thirty students, limited time. But lifting constraints doesn't make the work easier. It makes it different. Teachers trained for a bounded classroom now face an unbounded role that requires judgment, discernment, and presence in ways we haven't yet mapped.

Why your job matters more than mine: the selective morality of job loss

This article reveals the uncomfortable pattern behind which jobs get moral protection and which get called 'market forces'—and what that means for everyone outside the creative class.

AI in writing: the end of a professional monopoly

This article reframes the AI writing debate: the panic isn't about creativity—it's about a professional class losing control of the systems they've gatekept for a century.

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