Why your next CEO could be a machine
- A prospective “cybernetic corporation” is one that would seamlessly integrate human intelligence with the boundless capabilities of AGI and autonomous robots.
- In such companies a “central intelligence core” (CIC) could replace pyramid‑shaped hierarchies with a flat, decentralized model.
- In today’s real world Nvidia operates with a flat organizational structure comparable to that of a hypothetical cybernetic corporation.
The year is 2035, and the best performing stock of the past nine months is NTKX, a company no one had heard of a year ago. From founding to going public, it was an absolute rocket ship, the first of its kind: a cybernetic corporation.
NeuralTech (NTKX) has become a global leader in genomics, looking not only at the genetic material of organisms but also at how that information is applied. The company has made advances in the medical field, studying drug responses and disease. New discoveries have been made in microevolution, which has helped identify how environmental factors are influencing populations. And its work in synthetic biology has transformed everything from bioprinted organs to the food we ingest. No matter where we look in the field of genomics, NeuralTech is right there at the forefront.
Unlike traditional companies of the early twenty‑first century, NeuralTech operates on a fundamentally different paradigm, one that seamlessly integrates human intelligence with the boundless capabilities of AGI (artificial general intelligence) systems and autonomous robots.
At NeuralTech, the traditional hierarchical structure of companies stands obsolete. The central intelligence core (CIC), the advanced decision‑making and planning AI system at the heart of the company, has the ability to directly manage and interact with every single employee, regardless of their role or location. This is in stark contrast to the limitations faced by human managers who, in previous eras, were always constrained by their cognitive limits, able to handle 5 people in the closest circle of trust and no more than 150 with whom they could maintain stable social relationships. The limitations of human managers resulted in hierarchies, and hierarchies brought their own problems: inefficiency, infighting, disagreement, and disaffection.
The CIC’s ability to transcend such limitations has had profound implications for the organizational structure of NeuralTech. Instead of pyramid‑shaped hierarchies with layers of middle management and executives, the company operates on a flat, decentralized model. Every employee, human or machine, has a direct line of communication with the CIC, which assigns tasks, provides feedback, and offers support in real time, all the time.
This flattening of the organizational hierarchy unlocks unprecedented levels of efficiency and agility for NeuralTech. Without the need for intermediaries or bureaucratic red tape, information flows freely and decisively across the organization. The CIC optimizes resource allocation, identifies and resolves bottlenecks, and adapts to changing circumstances with a speed and precision that would be impossible for a human‑led company. It turns out that in a company made up of humans and machines, the most efficient thing to do is to make the machine the CEO!
The CIC’s ability to manage a vast network of employees also enables NeuralTech to scale its operations in ways that traditional companies could only dream of. The company takes on projects of immense complexity and scope, leveraging the collective intelligence of its human and machine workforce to solve problems that were previously insurmountable. The CIC easily identifies which employees are best suited to work on which projects, given skills, bandwidth, and work–life considerations. This paves the path for an overall higher level of satisfaction from employees across the board. In addition, the CIC keeps tabs on when motivation and productivity may be slipping. When identified, issues are addressed at an individual level. What motivates one individual may not do the same for another. And when personal information is shared with the CIC, the information is kept confidential. The CIC doesn’t let slip who’s having trouble at home or who’s scheduled for what medical procedures. And when employees complain of job monotony or fatigue, the CIC looks for new opportunities to respark interest.
This organizational transformation has had a remarkable impact on the company’s bottom line. Its productivity and innovation have soared, allowing it to outcompete traditional firms in almost every industry it enters. NeuralTech is entering new industries at a breathtaking pace! The CIC’s data‑driven decision‑making and real‑time adaptation have turned out to be an asset in even the most dynamic and unpredictable markets.
A group of short sellers, hoping to make a gain from the stock falling, launches a vicious attack on NeuralTech just three months into its IPO, claiming that the company is running afoul of “the human interest” and that its decisions are unethical and not in the interest of society. But the CIC was a step ahead . . .
NeuralTech had already implemented a range of safeguards and ethical guidelines to ensure that the CIC’s power is used responsibly and transparently. The CIC had predicted the risk of a short‑seller attack and had established an independent ethics board, composed of both human and machine representatives, to oversee the CIC’s decision‑making and ensure that it aligns with human values and interests. All this information had been kept hidden because the CIC knew that releasing it beforehand would only make it irrelevant when the inevitable short‑seller attack occurred. Instead, the information is released on the day after the short‑seller attack, along with an established history of performance. This effectively neutralizes the negative press, making the short sellers seem uninformed. The attack is thwarted. But the CIC doesn’t become complacent. It prepares for the next such potential attack.
It turns out that in a company made up of humans and machines, the most efficient thing to do is to make the machine the CEO.
The rapid ascent of cybernetic corporations like NeuralTech has sent shockwaves through the business world. Veteran CEOs, worried about their lucrative positions and massive bonuses, are in open revolt. Human‑run, traditional companies have struggled to adapt to this new flat‑organization paradigm, finding themselves outmatched by the speed, efficiency, and scalability of their cybernetic rivals. Some have attempted to retrofit their organizations with AI and automation, but without the same level of integration and sophistication of a “CEO” like CIC, they have found it difficult to compete. As NeuralTech continues to expand into new markets, these traditional companies face a true threat to their existence.
NeuralTech’s meteoric rise has made it abundantly clear that the future of business belongs to those who can successfully harness the power of artificial intelligence and human–machine collaboration, even if the humans must report to the machines. The company’s success has inspired a new generation of entrepreneurs and innovators who are racing to build the next generation of cybernetic corporations with AI as their CEO.
Back to reality . . . but the core hypothesis at the heart of the story, that a truly cybernetic corporation will be flat, and will be able to overcome the cognitive limitations of humans, deserves serious consideration. Under Jensen Huang’s leadership, Nvidia has become the world’s largest corporation, and it provides an interesting case study. In multiple interviews, Huang has emphasized the importance of Nvidia’s flat organizational structure. In a 2021 interview, he stated that “I have about twenty direct reports. I believe in a very flat organization.” He elaborated on this philosophy in another interview: “The company is as simple as possible so that information can travel as quickly as possible.” Not every CEO has the capacity to deal with twenty direct reports. But a CIC might be able to manage many times the number of people Jensen Huang does today. So is NeuralTech or its equivalent about to emerge, whether we like it or not?
