OpenAI essay maps AI's place in the org chart
Two OpenAI staff argue that AI will enter firms beneath, beside, or between human workers, a framing that treats AI adoption as a reorganization of company hierarchies rather than a replacement for staff.
Two OpenAI employees have published an essay on how AI could reorganize company structures. It is the second in a series on "the next economy," hosted on a new OpenAI platform for independent voices exploring an AGI future. The authors say it reflects their own views, not OpenAI's. Their names do not appear in the excerpt provided.
The authors say they began managing teams at OpenAI at 24. Their "reports" are AI agents, which they describe as working "day and night, weekends and holidays." Rather than climbing the corporate ladder, they write, "management has instead come down to our rung."
The essay sets out three illustrative scenarios:
- Beneath us: The human org chart stays the same, but every worker gains a "basement" of AI labor. This grows from one or two intern-like agents into what the authors call "entire miniature firms" reporting to each person.
- Beside us: AI works as a colleague reporting to existing managers. It starts with single tasks and over time takes on broader functions.
- Between us: AI sits between executives and staff, coordinating and monitoring work.
The authors expect parts of all three to happen and say each is already happening "in subtle ways." They argue that the first scenario does not imply layoffs. If AI can do 90% of a job, they write, a worker may still have a full job aimed at a goal ten times larger. In their view, more capable AI is also easier to adopt, because it "learns the firm and can onboard itself."
The essay is speculative and presents no new data. The authors say it will go on to cover red tape, worker agency, firm size, and pay disparity, but the excerpt provided ends before those sections.