Looking back, it’s striking how many predictions from late 2024 centered on a single theme: AI becoming an active participant in the workforce. The question wasn't *if* AI would change how we work, but how we would adapt to AI as a colleague, a customer, and a co-creator.
On the operational front, Jeremiah Owyang was right on the money with his concept of "AI-paced scaling." He foresaw startups staying lean by using AI for tasks that historically required large teams. By 2025, this was a confirmed trend, with companies like Midjourney and ElevenLabs achieving massive revenue with fewer than 100 employees. Contrary to some fears, this didn't lead to widespread leadership chaos. Scott Monty predicted that insulated leaders would become "casualties of the AI transition," a fate that was largely avoided as organizations proved more adaptable than anticipated.
Owyang also had a strong sense of how we'd work with and market to AI itself. He predicted a new software category for managing AI agent relationships and saw agents becoming a new class of customer. While his specific acronym for the software didn't stick, the function did, materializing as Multi-Agent Workflow Optimization (MAWO). And while agents didn't become a consumer segment, they certainly became a key B2B focus, as noted by Jeremiah Owyang.
The creative fields weren't immune. David Berkowitz correctly anticipated that AI co-authorship would become common in business books within a few years. By late 2025, major publishers had signed deals to train and co-create with AI, though the ethical norms around disclosure that Berkowitz highlighted are still very much in flux.
**What we’re watching:** Now that the AI co-worker is here, the next frontier seems to be measurement. How do you quantify the productivity of a human-agent team? And as AI’s creative and strategic contributions grow, the conversation around disclosure, compensation, and intellectual property is only just beginning.