Putting AI to Work – and Not Getting Left Behind

AI is either the greatest opportunity or the biggest threat to humanity, depending on who you ask. That’s how Sasha Qadri kicked off her chat with Piers Linney - entrepreneur, investor, and former Dragon’s Den star - who’s now deep into AI-driven business transformation.

His take? Forget the doomsday predictions for now and focus on something far more pressing: what AI is doing right now and how businesses can use it before they get left behind.

Who Are the Real AI Adopters?

Typically, it’s the disruptors; startups, SMEs, tech-first businesses, who jump on emerging technology first, while large corporations and governments play catch-up. But AI has flipped that on its head. This time, it’s the big players diving in first. Why? Because AI isn’t just an incremental innovation, it’s transformational.

Think about the iPhone. It changed how we communicate, sure, but it took years to develop into the powerful, always-on device we now take for granted. And, for at least a decade, our relationship with it has remained relatively stable, faster, yes, but still fundamentally the same.

AI is different. It’s not just about making what we do more efficient. It’s about changing what we do entirely. Who does it, how they do it, and even how we think about work itself. That’s not just disruptive, that’s existential. And that, frankly, is a little bit spooky.

Don't Just Automate - Think Transform

One of Piers’ key suggestions was to pick one process and automate it with AI. But that, to me, feels like the wrong lens to look through if you are going to really embrace and move forwards.

Automation is often about reducing cost, streamlining, cutting out inefficiencies, doing more with less. AI, when used properly, should be about adding value.

Processing data (and let’s be clear—this is about more than just numbers) and making routine tasks run 24/7 is not the end game. In fact, we don’t even know what the end game is yet. But what we do know is that AI, when integrated properly, frees up thinking time. It doesn’t just make businesses more efficient, it makes them more creative. And that’s where the real opportunity lies.

The AI Playbook: Start With the Future, Not the Present

Piers spoke about businesses needing to integrate AI today so they don’t get left behind. I agree—but I’d argue the real challenge is imagining what AI will truly achieve and then working backwards from that future.

What should your business look like in an AI-first world? What experiences should you be creating for your customers that wouldn’t have been possible before? Because if you’re only thinking about AI in terms of process automation, you’re missing the bigger picture.

The companies that will thrive aren’t just the ones who embrace AI, they’re the ones who rethink everything AI makes possible. The real opportunity here isn’t in just using AI. It’s in innovating with it. Creating new, better customer experiences and entirely new ways of doing business.

Final Thought: AI Is Moving Fast—Are You?

If there’s one takeaway from this conversation, it’s that AI is not a future problem; it’s a now opportunity. And the companies that aren’t engaging with it, testing it, and actively using it will be left behind.

So the real question isn’t "How can I automate a process?" It’s "What new possibilities does AI unlock—and how do I make them work for me?"

Because if we don’t ask that question now, we might not have the chance to ask it later.