Since the invention of the organization chart in the 1850s, business structures have changed very little: they are hierarchical and consist of multiple levels of managers and decision makers. This is because we have been limited by the limits of human intelligence and attention to manage and control workflow. AI can change that. In large language models (LLMs), we have a strange new form of intelligence, but one that has functioned primarily as an assistant at the individual level. In 2025, we will begin to see the first organizations that will be built around the combination of humans and artificial intelligence working together.
This change represents a fundamental change in the way we structure and operate our businesses and institutions. While the integration of AI into our daily lives has happened very quickly (AI assistants are one of the fastest product adoptions in history), organizations have seen limited benefits so far. But next year will mark a turning point in which AI will move from a tool for individual productivity to a central component of organizational design and strategy.
In 2025, forward-thinking companies will begin to reimagine their entire organizational structure, processes, and culture around the symbiotic relationship between human and artificial intelligence. It is not just about automating tasks or increasing human capabilities; it’s about creating entirely new ways of working that leverage the unique strengths of humans and AI. The key to unlocking the true power of LLMs lies in moving beyond individual use cases toward organizational-level integration. While we’ve seen impressive results from people using AI assistants for tasks like writing, coding, and analysis, the real transformation will come when entire organizations are built around human-AI collaboration.
Startups are leading the charge. Venture capitalists report a growing trend of portfolio companies promising to maintain agile teams of no more than about 30 people, relying on AI to scale their operations without traditional overhead. However, the benefits of this approach can be even more significant for large, established organizations. These companies have the potential to use AI to solve inefficiencies, unlock new growth from existing talent, and harness the collective intelligence of their workforce in ways never before possible.
In 2025, we will see a rise in “AI-native” startups that will build their entire operating model around human-AI collaboration from day one. These companies will be characterized by small, highly trained human teams that will work in conjunction with sophisticated artificial intelligence systems to achieve results that rival those of much larger traditional organizations.
For larger companies, the path to becoming an AI-embedded organization will be more complex but potentially more rewarding. These organizations will need to undertake significant research and development efforts to understand how to best leverage AI in their specific context. This process will reveal an important truth: since AI works less like traditional software and more like a person (even if it is not), there is no reason to assume that the IT department has the best AI indicators or any particular knowledge about the most effective uses of AI within the organization.
So, while IT will certainly play a crucial role in implementing and maintaining AI systems, the real use cases and innovations will come from workers and managers across departments discovering opportunities to use AI to improve your work performance. In fact, for large companies, the source of any real advantage in AI will come from the expertise of their employees, which is necessary to unlock the knowledge and capabilities latent within AI systems. This understanding will lead to a democratization of the use of AI within some organizations, and those will be the ones leading the coming transformation.
The organizational structures that emerge from this AI integration will be markedly different from the traditional hierarchies we are accustomed to. We may see the emergence of more fluid project-based structures where teams quickly form and dissolve around specific goals, with AI systems acting as connectors and facilitators. Middle management roles may evolve to focus more on coordination between humans and AI rather than traditional supervisory tasks. In 2025, the most successful companies will not be those with the most advanced AI technologies, but those that can most effectively combine human and artificial intelligence to create new forms of value.