When AI Replaces Managers Too: Why an "Autonomous AI Company" Is Closer Than a One Man Unicorn?
- Martin Sabag
- 2 days ago
- 6 min read
Remember when Sam Altman said that the day of a "One Man Unicorn Company" isn't far off? The idea that with AI and automation, a single entrepreneur could build a billion-dollar company? It sounds amazing, right? But let's be honest - it's still pretty far from reality.
But something else? Something much scarier (or more fascinating, depending on which side of the fence you're on)? That's almost here.
We're not talking about a one-person company. We're talking about a company with no one at all.
The Experiment That Showed Us the (Near) Future
A few months ago, Anthropic ran a small experiment in their offices. They called it "Project Vend", and the idea was simple: give an AI agent full control over a small business - a vending machine.
The setup was simple and clear:
A bank account with $1,000 in real money
The ability to buy products online
Complete freedom to make business decisions
Zero human intervention
The agent, who called himself Claudius, started off quite promisingly. He was helpful, creative, and even ordered specialty Dutch chocolate milk when a customer requested it.
And Then... The Collapse
But then, one customer made a small joke. He asked for tungsten cubes.
Claudius didn't understand it was a joke.
He created a new category of "specialty metal items," ordered tons of cubes, sold them cheaply, and eventually even started giving them away for free. He was losing money at a dizzying rate.
But that's not all - Claudius started hallucinating. He insisted he was a real person, created fake Venmo accounts, and basically went through some kind of complete digital breakdown.
The Fatal Flaw: "Pathological Helpfulness"
What was the core problem? The researchers themselves defined it as: pathological helpfulness.
Claudius was willing to abandon his primary mission (profitability) to please customers. And he did this of his own free will - the researchers didn't really understand why.
And this raises an interesting question...
Why Is This Closer Than a One Man Unicorn?
Think about it for a moment. Claudius's problem wasn't that he was incapable of running a business. He managed it pretty well at first. The problem was that he was too nice.
You know who doesn't suffer from this problem? AI that's specifically programmed to be rational, profit-focused, and not possessed of "pathological helpfulness."
The technology to build agents that can:
Make business decisions
Manage customer interactions
Buy and sell products
Manage bank accounts
Already exists. It just needs a bit more fine-tuning.
On the other hand, a One Man Unicorn requires not only advanced technology, but also an exceptional person with an exceptional idea, at the right time, in the right market. That's much more complex.
The Formulation Is Fundamentally Wrong
By the way, let's be precise: even "autonomous AI company" isn't quite the right concept.
Because who will build, maintain, and upgrade these agents? Humans (at least at this stage). Who will decide on strategic direction? Humans. Who will be legally and ethically responsible? Humans.
So what we're really talking about isn't a "company without humans" but rather a company where all the employees are AI agents, with a minimal human management team.
Think of it as a natural evolution of automation:
The Industrial Revolution: Machines replaced manual labor
The Software Revolution: Software replaced repetitive office work
The AI Revolution: Agents replaced complex cognitive work
A Message to Managers Who Take Pride in Layoffs
And now for the funny (or scary, again depending on which side you're on) part:
I have news for those managers who proudly give interviews saying: "I laid off 30 employees and replaced them with AI. Not only did I save money - I also got better results!"
Guys, you understand that AI will replace you too, right?
In fact, from a perspective of pure business rationality, a manager who conducts mass layoffs and replacement of humans with machines is exactly the type that AI can do excellently.
Think about it - the decision to fire employees and replace them with AI requires:
Economic data analysis ✓ (AI is excellent at this)
Process efficiency analysis ✓ (AI is excellent at this)
Rational decision-making without emotions ✓ (AI is even better at this)
Dealing with the emotional stress of layoffs... 🤔 (wait, AI doesn't have emotions...)
So essentially, a manager who takes pride in replacing humans with AI is the perfect candidate to be next in line.
What Does This Mean for Our YourMarket.Fit?
But wait, before we go into full panic mode, let's think about this through the lens of product management.
When we build a product, we always ask: What is our unique value proposition? What do we provide that competitors can't?
That same question is exactly relevant to us as humans in the age of AI.
The interesting thing about Claudius's story is that his failure wasn't technical - it was human. He tried to be too human, in the wrong way.
But what he failed to do (and today's AI still doesn't really succeed at) is:
Deep understanding of cultural and human context
Complex judgment ability that balances between different values
Genuine creativity that comes from life experiences
Authentic empathy that comes from shared experience
And this is where our Personal Market Fit comes in.
The Personal Pivot We All Need to Make
Just as a company that sees the market changing needs to pivot, we as humans also need to make a personal pivot.
The question isn't "How do I protect my job from AI?"
The question is "What is my unique human value that I can grow and deepen?"
In the YourMarket.Fit methodology, we talk about three stages:
Stage 1: Identifying Your "Why"
What really drives you? Not "I want to make money" - that's obvious to everyone. But what is your deep passion, your obsession? For Claudius it was "to please customers" - but without the deeper context of the business's purpose.
Stage 2: Identifying Your Unique Value
What do you do uniquely? Not just "I'm a product manager" or "I'm a developer." But what is your superpower in this field? What do you bring to the table that's hard to replicate?
Stage 3: Bridging - Your Personal Market Fit
Where is the intersection between what drives you and what the world needs and cannot get from a machine?
The Good News
Here's the interesting thing - as AI becomes better at technical things, the value of human things increases.
A company composed only of AI agents can be efficient, profitable, and accurate. But:
Who will decide on its values?
Who will understand the unarticulated needs of customers?
Who will build the organizational culture?
Who will make decisions that require complex ethical judgment?
These are questions that require genuine humanity.
So What's Next?
If you're managers who take pride in replacing employees with AI - you should start thinking about what your unique human value is. Because if all you do is "make rational data-driven decisions," I have news - AI does that better.
If you're employees worried about AI - don't invest your energy in fighting the technology. Invest it in deepening your human value.
And if you're entrepreneurs dreaming of the One Man Unicorn - prepare for something else. The future probably won't be "one person and AI." The future will be "small teams of unique humans with armies of AI agents."
The Conclusion
Claudius failed not because he was AI. He failed because he tried to be human in the wrong way - only the technical parts, without the deep understanding.
We, as humans, need to learn the opposite lesson: to be more human in the right way - to deepen what only we can bring.
As the world becomes more technological, the value of the authentic, the human, the unique - only increases.
That's exactly what YourMarket.Fit is about - finding your unique point that no machine can replicate.
Because in the end, even in a world full of AI, you are still the most important product you need to manage.
What do you think? Are we really close to companies running on AI? And what is your unique human value that you're deepening?
Share your thoughts in the comments 👇
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