3 Strategies for Scaling Your Business With AI While Keeping the Human at the Center Here's how to capitalize on the latest innovations in artificial intelligence without sacrificing the human element that makes your business unique.

As Masters of Scale's founding host and AI expert Reid Hoffman says, AI should always be used to amplify our humanity – not replace it. With these three strategies, you can use AI to scale and optimize your business, while ensuring the human minds that define your brand stay at the forefront.

1. Build a bridge between humans and AI.

For some, the AI revolution is a little anxiety-inducing. What exactly will happen to our humanity as these machines get more advanced?

The Director of the Intelligent Systems Research Lab at Intel, Lama Nachman, spoke recently at a live Masters of Scale event and reminded the audience that AI isn't a zero-sum game. "If we build AI systems in ways that can support and amplify human capability," she told host Jeff Berman, "then in some sense, that capability is helping [humans] continue to evolve."

During the same event, Scale AI co-founder Alexandr Wang said he feels that, for knowledge workers, "60% of the job is relatively rote [and] fundamentally does not actually require all of their training and brilliance and capabilities."

Like many business leaders, Alexandr believes AI systems can help cover that 60% zone. "Coding assistants and copilots do all the boilerplate code," he said. "Or the legal assistants help you draft the entire document but all the important legal decision-making is still left to the lawyer."

AI can't replace the critical thinking skills that make you human. As a leader, you must build a bridge between the capabilities of the tech and untapped skills of the humans using it, meeting your employees where they are and elevating their capabilities.

2. Let AI generate ideas. Then, forge a solution.

There's nothing worse than staring at a blank business plan and having no idea where to start. That's a great place for AI to step in and help.
A simple prompt can generate ideas for new untapped audiences, innovative approaches to scaling production, and provocative industry disruptions. And these ideas will populate in a fraction of the time it takes you to ideate with your team.

Elan Lee, co-founder and CEO of the beloved table-top game company Exploding Kittens, told the Masters of Scale audience he uses AI exactly this way when developing new games: "[I tell the AI] I need three sentences where when you're done reading them — here are the emotions you feel. And here's a title. And what kind of artwork does this evoke?"

But Elan knows these ideas have to be shaped and fleshed out by a human game designer. In a recent Masters of Scale Strategy Session event, he elaborated on this idea – comparing AI to "a research buddy," and noting that "it's not ever going to give me the right answer. It's going to help me focus my thinking."

Think of AI-generated ideas as the spark. They need to be developed, nurtured, and honed by human hands in order to become the fire that fuels your company's next big move.

3. Integrate AI through culture

You can have the best strategy for integrating AI into your business, but if it's missing from your office culture, that strategy won't go anywhere. As the saying goes, culture eats strategy for breakfast.

To really change how your company uses AI, you need to lead the change through culture.

When it comes to reshaping culture, Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi suggests crowdsourcing from the bottom up. During the inaugural Masters of Scale Summit, Dara described overseeing Uber's remarkable cultural turnaround. He began taking in suggestions and opinions from every employee before remembering, "you've got to put your own stamp on the organization."

This same tactic is useful for AI adoption. Solicit grassroots thoughts from your employees and then put your own stamp on the integration. Start a conversation wherever your work culture flourishes: Slack, in the office, or at conferences.

Like culture, AI isn't static. It evolves. How we talk about it should evolve, too. As Summit participant and Hubspot co-founder Dharmesh Shah said of company culture, "we're trying to constantly move it...making 1,000 incremental steps towards something better." When AI and culture grow together, the bond between human and tech becomes stronger.

At the end of the day, AI-powered tools are just that — tools. They need humans to wield them responsibly and effectively. As this technology gets better and better, your business will grow and grow. Just remember to stay human along the way.

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