Viewed in BCG Insights
Every token buys a few more seconds with the world’s best expert.
That may be the simplest way to understand BCG’s latest thinking on AI. Every AI interaction consumes tokens, the currency that gives employees instant access to extraordinary knowledge.
For decades, companies competed by hiring the smartest people. Today, the real advantage may be helping every talented employee become a little smarter, every day.
Every token multiplies talent
Think of the best engineer, salesperson or marketer in your company.
Would you ask them to read fewer books? Meet fewer customers? Learn less?
Probably not.
Being too frugal with AI tokens can have the same effect. Every token is another opportunity to explore an idea, test an assumption, or challenge a decision.
The winners won’t be the companies that consume the fewest tokens. They’ll be the ones that help talented people turn those tokens into better decisions, faster innovation and stronger customer relationships.
The organization becomes the advantage
If every employee becomes two, five or even ten times more effective, the bottleneck is no longer knowledge. It’s the organization.
Can decisions move faster? Can expertise spread more quickly? Can managers redesign work instead of simply managing it?
That’s where competitive advantage will emerge.
Watch the org chart
If talent gets a multiplier, organizations won’t simply become leaner, they’ll need to be redesigned.
Some management layers may shrink. Product, engineering and customer-facing teams may grow. New AI leadership roles will emerge while many existing roles evolve.
Organizational charts may become one of the earliest indicators of how companies are turning AI into competitive advantage.
Talent remains the advantage
BCG estimates that more than half of jobs will be reshaped by AI, while relatively few are likely to disappear.
The companies pulling ahead won’t choose between investing in AI and investing in people. They’ll use AI to make talented people even better.
Take-away
Every token buys a few more seconds with the world’s best expert. The organizations that help their people use those seconds wisely may build the defining competitive advantage of the AI era.
Our thanks to Matthew Kropp, Julie Bedard, Clark O’Niell, Sylvain Duranton and Megan Hsu for offering a fresh perspective on AI, talent and organizational advantage.
