We are in the teenage years of AI . The playful toddler of 2021 (when models were cute) and the promising childhood of 2023 ( that AI will eventually replace us all) are well past us. Today we have to take the difficult call of whether the replacement of workforce that was promised is to be strategically acted upon. More than the risk of adopting the tech, lies the fear of missing out on the bus, since the wrath of failing to modernise is well documented. In 2025 alone, around a million jobs were lost to AI (that's what the company's memo read). And there is some merit to it. Many companies have publicly committed their AI investment, and have to now show the result of the massive bills - the unanimous answer to which has been productivity increase . But, such is the story of economics that one lever can be pushed without comprising on another. Efficiency is simple maths, the output must grow for the similar input (read workforce - and tip your hat to Karl Marx ). The sinister ...