Companies Are Just a Graph of Algorithms

I think a lot of people don’t understand how big AI is going to be, because they don’t understand that everything is an algorithm.

In particular, they do not realize that companies are just a collection of algorithms.

What do I mean by that?

Well, let’s say your company takes photos, cleans them up, styles them, and adds a caption – which customers can download in large format. let’s call the company Memories.

The company started in the early 2000s, founded by an artist/photographer, and operates as follows:

• The user uploads the best quality digital image you have, or sends to the company
• Memories Receives it and performs a high-quality scan – checking quality and repairing any damage using old-school photography techniques + Photoshop
• Then they stylize the image in some way, like retro, cinematic, family-oriented, whatever—and add a caption
• Then they let you download the image or they send you the print.

Quite simple, and for anyone into computers you will recognize it as a series of steps, also called an algorithm.

The explanation is the new currency.

Also, each of these steps is itself an algorithm, just like the entire set of algorithms. So you can break the upload step into its own parts.

And you can keep going. Each of those steps can be broken down even further—it’s algorithmic all the way.

But shipping and processing aren’t the only flows that make up a business. you also have:

• Company Establishment
• hiring employees
• paying taxes
• pay for infrastructure
• I am doing marketing
• am supporting
• etc.

As you continue the process, you start to see the full picture of all the different parts that make up the business.

I think of it as a graph of algorithms.

I use the word graph because it allows me to think about the relationships between different components and describe them using a verb – e.g. Send Or Receiveor whatever.

Transparency is AI fuel

This process of breaking down processes of any kind—and especially for an entire business—is powerful in itself. If you had done this exercise for any business in 2022, it would have brought significant benefits to that business.

This allows you to see all the pieces, how they fit together, and figure out what to optimize or remove from the workflow.

But when you add AI into the mix, things become truly extraordinary.

AI excels at performing individual tasks and determining how things fit together, and every workflow component in your company becomes ripe for optimization or elimination.

expect advisors

AI-deniers simply don’t realize how opaque most businesses are, how much waste there is in their processes, or what the level of redundancies and inefficiencies is.

AI is going to put an end to this, and consultancies like Accenture, KPMG and McKinsey will lead that effort. They will come to your executive leadership team and present something like the following.

transparency/customizable pitch

• We will execute complete automated and manual interview processes across your entire business
• We’ll explore all the different workflows being carried out across the company, including What is automated and what is done by human workers
• From there we’ll figure out where the waste is in the process
• We will find out which teams are unnecessary
• We will find out which teams are not effective
• We will figure out which processes and workflows should not be there at all as they can be removed or consolidated into another workflow

And the result will essentially be a smaller, tighter company that will not only save money but require fewer people to run it.

continuous optimization

This won’t happen just once.

Once AI is used inside a company – like this – it is only one step away from a workflow that continuously analyzes these business components/algorithms.

The system will continuously ask for the following:

Okay, I see these 6 components for your marketing department, let’s take a look at one of them:

Great, at AI-Consulting-Corp we have questions:

1. How many humans are involved there?
2. How many emails are being sent by humans?
3. Why can’t we continuously generate ideas?
4. Why are we waiting a whole month for new ideas?
5. Why does it take so long to go from idea to campaign?
6. How long does it take to create marketing copy?
7. Who is writing that? (Then, how many humans?)
8. Who is sending all these emails? (oh, more humans)

And so on and so on.

And this is not limited to marketing. Every department has the same pattern – customer support, HR, recruiting, you name it.

Transparency opens the door to customization

The whole process is just in steps. Steps that can be expressed and visualized.

And then adapted.

AI will soon be able to do much of this, often better than most humans.

• send a meeting invitation
• idea generation
• Summary of meetings
• rate ideas
• Communicate with business leaders
• taking decisions from leaders
• Developing an Implementation Plan
• Creating a communication strategy for the company
• Coordinating between groups within the company
• running a campaign
• monitoring public reactions
• catch clues

But. and on. and on.

You’ve probably never seen your company this way, but AI soon will.

Every single one of those items is just another algorithm. And the better AI gets, the fewer humans will have to perform those tasks. (In a follow-up I’ll talk about which human jobs I think are likely to survive in this model.)

but my company is different

You might be tempted to say that your company doesn’t just receive images to customize and send them back to the client.

Your company is special. Your steps are difficult. or more stages. It’s more complicated than I’m explaining it.

No. Doesn’t matter.

It just means a bigger graph. And just because it would be a lot for a human to process at once doesn’t mean it will be harder for an AI.

No matter how special the product or company is, it still works as a pipeline of steps.

Again, understanding all the pieces and how they fit together – and being able to explain them well to decision makers – is the strength of AI.

It doesn’t really matter what type of business you’re in. Everything you or anyone else does can be divided into steps like this.

ok now i’m sad

I’m not trying to scare you. Or make you hate AI. Or consider becoming Amish.

I’m telling you what’s going to happen and how you need to be prepared for it – as a business owner who wants to compete in this new model, and/or as an employee at these companies.

The positive thing here is that businesses are going to become more efficient. Which means more productivity, more production and ultimately lots of new things in the world.

The same process will also make it easier for people to start businesses, including those who had no opportunity in 2022 or before.

But there will also be some downsides – notably the loss of many easy-to-automate human jobs. My advice is not to get discouraged, but to understand what is happening and prepare for it.

There is only one way out of this.

Summary

1. Businesses can be viewed as graphs of algorithms.
2. Once expressed in this way, the inefficiencies and opportunities for adaptation/elimination become clear.
3. AI is going to make this process common for all businesses because companies cannot wait to adapt using AI, and AI is driven by transparency.
4. Whether you’re a business owner or an employee, now is the time to prepare.
5. Understand what your business looks like as an algorithmic graph, and start thinking about what the AI ​​will recommend before you get there.