In a recent interview, Sam Altman mentioned that he expects billion dollar companies to be created by just a single person or a few people.

But isn’t that huge leap in productivity as a competetive advantage misguided in the long run?

It’s not that the gains with GenAI aren’t real—they very much are—it’s just that the playing field levels out, and eventually a single person with AI tools will be surpassed by a larger group of smart people with AI tools.

While we might initially see a few billion-dollar companies created by a single person, for this trend to continue, it would have to imply that a large group of smart people with AI tools has no real advantage over a single person with AI tools.

I just don’t see how this can be true as long as AI is still less capable than a smart person.

Every new technology cycle promises to boost our productivity, yet somehow, we end up with less free time than ever.

The problem here is clear: in this new productive world, if we manage to achieve the same results in half the time and call it a day, it just opens the door for someone else to pull ahead by working full time.

The single person vs teams is simply an extension of the above scenario.

The reality is that any productivity gains are quickly absorbed by the market, raising the bar once again.

This cycle will continue until AI systems become smarter than smart people. At that point, not having humans will become an advantage.