Last week at a gathering, a friend who works in trade told me, "Vincent, we have a young salesperson in our company who uses AI to organize customer information, write outreach emails, and create quotations. He's three times more efficient than everyone else. But now he doesn't communicate much with his colleagues anymore, saying, 'Anyway, it's faster to ask the AI ​​than to ask a person.'"

He then gave a wry smile: "What's worse, seeing him like this, some people in other departments started to get anxious and wanted to learn AI as well, while others simply gave up and said, 'AI is unreliable and will make mistakes! It often gives nonsensical answers in a serious manner, so we should trust and use it.' Now, when we have meetings, it feels like everyone is not on the same wavelength."

This is not an isolated case; it is a collective phenomenon that is currently unfolding.

The market is flooded with courses teaching you: "Learn AI and transform into a one-person company!" and "Use ChatGPT to complete your work ten times faster!" Sounds great, right? But nobody tells you what will happen to your company when everyone wants to become a "one-person company".

Three ethnic groups, three mindsets, an organization that is splitting apart.

After observing dozens of companies, I found that they are diverging into three types of people:

The first type: An AI expert, preparing to go solo.

They mastered AI tools, their work efficiency skyrocketed, and they began to think, "I can complete the entire project by myself, why should I share performance bonuses with others?" They are not bad people, it's just that AI has shown them the possibility of "not needing to rely on others."

The second type: anxious learners who only dare to try things out.

They know they need to learn AI, but their understanding is limited to superficial applications like "generating text," "making a graphic," and "creating a presentation." Deep down, they're anxious: "What if AI replaces us someday?" and "What if so-and-so no longer needs us?" So they learn and use AI conservatively.

The third type: those who are observing and still being used as toys.

Some people treat AI as a chatbot to play around with, some use it as a source of emotional support to confide in, and some create humorous memes with it. It's not that they don't want to learn, but rather that they don't know where to begin, or they simply don't feel the sense of crisis. (But some have also made a name for themselves with it, which is another kind of solo venture.)

The result? The company increasingly resembled three parallel worlds.

High achievers feel their team is holding them back, average performers are afraid of being eliminated and dare not speak the truth, and those who lag behind become increasingly marginalized. On the surface, everyone is still working together, but in reality, their hearts are scattered. I think this is not what companies want, but most enterprises have not yet realized its terrifying potential.

The problem isn't with AI, it's with our wrong way of thinking.

While everyone is chasing the idea that "AI can turn my company into a one-person operation," no one is thinking about "how AI can make our teams stronger." Are you developing employees, or training the organization?

This is the difference between tool-based thinking and collaborative thinking.

The tool-oriented mindset asks: "What can this AI do for me?"

Collaborative thinking asks: "What can this AI do for us? Is there a way to specialize in specific tasks while still collaborating effectively?"

The former makes you more independent, while the latter makes the team more cohesive.

I'll give youFor example :

When using AI to organize customer data, people with a tool-oriented mindset will quietly complete the task themselves and then enjoy the sense of accomplishment of "I am better than others".

But someone with a collaborative mindset would think: "I've built a customer analytics interface and architecture using AI. Could a colleague connect all the operational details, and then another colleague train the agent, so that when a newbie doesn't understand something, they can ask them a question or have questions collected? Finally, we can also share the data with the marketing or finance departments to enhance the value of the information."

What's the difference? The former created "Personal strengths'The latter created "organizational skills. "

True AI transformation is about enabling teams to find new ways to collaborate.

If you are a business owner or manager, the question now is not "how to get everyone to use AI," but rather:

What role does AI play in your organization?

Is it each person's personal assistant? Or the team's common language?

What changes do you hope AI will bring?

Is it about improving individual efficiency? Or upgrading team collaboration?

Is your acquisition strategy focused on creating star employees or building collective capabilities?

If your answer leans towards the former, congratulations! You are cultivating a group of "experts ready to go solo" and "increasingly anxious centrists."

If the answer leans towards the latter, then what you need is not just AI tool training, but a redefinition of how your team collaborates using AI.

Finally, let's return to human nature.

Humans are social animals; even the strongest individuals need to "sense of belongingWhen AI makes us feel that "one person is enough," we lose not only team efficiency, but also a sense of meaning in our work.

Have you noticed that the teams that truly excel at using AI are not necessarily those where everyone is an AI expert, but rather those who have found a way to become stronger together using AI?

Therefore, instead of pursuing a "one-person company," we should consider:

How can you make AI a common language for your team and enable everyone to collaborate, rather than starting a division?

This is the first lesson that business owners should truly learn in the AI ​​era.