How Extreme an AI Transformation Are We Talking About?

One challenge in the AI-transformation debate is that people use the same word, “transformation,” to mean radically different things.

For example, today I just saw a Tweet where a guy used AI to perform surgery on a mouse! This could transform ALL lab experiments in a profound way (at scale, with precision, and repeatability).

Of course, transformation doesn’t have to be this groundbreaking. Sometimes a simple reconfiguration of a team org structure or a workflow can improve efficiency and effectiveness. This too is transformation, even if it’s on a completely different scale of effort and output.

To me, this is another opportunity to make things Sesame Street Simple.

Here’s my attempt to define 3 different options with 3 different illustrations.

So You Want to Upgrade a House

Let’s start with the infographic, then address each one.

If you want to transform the feel of a home, you have at least three different levels.

And summarizing:

1. Redesign: Everything from new furniture to a fresh coat of paint.
2. Renovation: Ripping down walls while keeping the bones intact.
3. Reimagination: Tear the house to the ground, start from scratch.

Redesign

My wife loves changing how the house feels with the seasons. Sometimes it’s just a matter of switching out pillows or putting out different decorations. Sometimes we get bored with a room’s color (or it’s starting to chip), and we put up a coat of paint.

This is equivalent to nuts-and-bolts AI transformation.

• Summarize a document
• Draft an email
• Run detailed search
• Translate X to Y
• Speech to Text

These can be huge gains! But they aren’t rocket science anymore. They make everything different and better (transformation), but for now, much of it is table stakes.

Renovation

Sometimes an organization is constrained by the literal structure of their building. Maybe there aren’t enough conference rooms. Maybe there is no soundproofing (something that didn’t matter before remote work became a thing). Maybe the wiring sucks, and that is limiting the internet speed.

Here, you can’t just get away with an off-the-shelf solution. You might need a bit more planning, more budget, more focus, and more effort.

In AI, you might rip apart a key system. Perhaps your team uses Excel, and there’s a tremendous amount of manual back-and-forth updating. Here is where an AI agent with connectors might be able to replace multiple steps of an SOP with a single, holistic pass. What if you could process the intake form, pull CRM data, and create a proposal all at once? This might require setting up triggers and agents, plus some testing and training. But you can eventually throw out an old way and introduce a significantly better, new way.

Reimagination

What if you had no constraints?

You’re not limited to the existing floor size, and you have no historical baggage.

You bulldoze the building and build it big, with the exact configuration that supports your goals.

This is what AI-first from day 0 looks like. You can use “1st principles” reasoning to identify the goals and the means to achieve them. Existing SOPs may be useful for inspiration, but to hell with them if that’s how we used to do it.

You’re no longer making choices based on what can fit where. You build the building around what and how you want to operate.

So there you have it. 3 different ways to scope your AI transformation. I hope it’s a useful illustration and metaphor for your organization!