AI’s biggest champions have argued for some time that the technology will usher in an era of unprecedented productivity gains, vastly rewarding workers who exploit it while displacing those who don’t.
Zeb Evans, CEO of collaboration software startup ClickUp, says this change is imminent. Last Thursday, Evans announced on that the company, whose last evaluation took place in 2021 at 4 billion dollarshad laid off 22% of its workforce, but called the reduction not a cost-cutting measure, but rather a radical adoption of AI that will take the company to the next level.
“Most of the savings from this change will be returned directly to the people who remain. We will introduce million-dollar salary bands. If you create an outsized impact using AI, you will be paid outside of traditional bands,” Evans wrote.
ClickUp recently introduced around 3,000 in-house AI agents to handle a wide range of complex tasks on behalf of its employees, according to a study. Fortune article published a few days ago. Instead of performing the work themselves, staff members are now expected to direct these agents and ultimately review the output to ensure it meets company standards.
Evans’ goal, according to his article X, is for AI to transform ClickUp into a “100x organization.”
ClickUp isn’t the only one hoping AI agents will drive massive productivity gains.
In fact, according to a recent Gartner survey, about 80% of companies using autonomous technologies have cut jobs. However, the study found that workforce reductions do not necessarily translate in significant financial returns.
While Gartner’s findings suggest some companies are using unproven AI as an excuse to downsize, ClickUp maintains that’s not one of them.
Evans told TechCrunch via email that the startup is indeed seeing productivity gains from AI agents. Not only is ClickUp measuring these efficiencies internally, but it is also apparently preparing to include them in an upcoming product for its customers.
“Instead of gamifying the cost of tokens, we are gamifying the value created and time saved,” Evans wrote.
In recent months, a growing number of companies have begun monitoring employee token consumption, using it as a metric to see who is actually adopting AI tools. But critics argue that “tokenmaxxing” – as this concept is called – is not a good measure because it only accumulates AI spending.
“People who automate their jobs with AI will always have jobs,” Evans said in his message. But if AI continues to take over more tasks, ClickUp will eventually need fewer people, eliminating those who fail to automate their functions well.
Technology circles have long theorized this scenario.
There is already an extreme example of a high-profile startup using AI automation to the fullest. Polsia, a year-old startup that claims to handle all software operations for solopreneurs, is run by one person: its founder and CEO, Ben Broca. This efficiency is apparently bearing fruit: Poland has just lifted $30 million at a valuation of $250 million.
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Marina Temkin is a venture capital and startups reporter at TechCrunch. Before joining TechCrunch, she wrote about venture capital for PitchBook and Venture Capital Journal. Earlier in her career, Marina was a financial analyst and earned her CFA designation.
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