"AI-first" is the new Return To Office - Anil Dash

what a fun analogy, though they didn't use it much other to segue into their main argument, which matches my experience when i see a team of engineers using copilots and seeing who it benefits more and how different levels of experiences/skills impacts the use of them.

ultimately, adding AI as a line item to performance is definitely ... weird.

with that said, i think there is more to be explored with the analogy to the return to office trend (and the fact that we have CEO trends at all in our world...).

one hypothesis i read that tries to explain RTO is that not only is there group think when it comes to CEOs but that CEOs generally benefit from each others works and decisions because of how corporate boards work and how CEOs rotate on board positions.

this was one possibly hypothesis for why boards keep raising CEO salaries despite poor performance and the large societal questions that loom about ever increasing pay disparities.

so when it comes to RTO, if many CEOs have real estate investments, friends, dependencies they then benefit from an overall RTO trend, even if it has small to medium impact on the current business.

i'm not sure if this holds water, but as stated many times in this blog: it all just feels so weird...

The article discusses the trend among tech CEOs of demanding that all work be AI-first. The author uses personal anecdotes and observations to critique this approach, suggesting it stems from groupthink and a desire to signal participation in the AI trend rather than genuine utility. The author contrasts this with a more normal approach to technology adoption, where tools are chosen based on their utility and workers are trusted to judge what is useful for them.