openai.comarticleThe future of the firm
"The future of the firm" is a 2026 essay in OpenAI's "The Next Economy" series by two young OpenAI team managers. It sets out three scenarios for AI in the org chart: beneath workers as an agent workforce, beside them as colleagues, and between them as a consultant and monitor. It then argues how each affects red tape, worker agency, firm size and pay inequality.
TL;DR Essay argues AI will enter firms beneath, beside and between workers, and weighs the effects on autonomy, firm size and pay.
Organisations named here
- OpenAI
- Ronald Coase
Technologies named here
- ChatGPT
- Slack
Techniques named here
- AI beneath the org chart
- AI beside people
- AI between people
- AI as an intelligent monitor
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