These three types of entrepreneurs are the most likely to be replaced by AI.

The wave of AI is blowing strongly. It not only changes our lives but is also quietly reshaping the workplace. The startup circle is not immune either.

According to a 2023 report by McKinsey, by 2030, about 12 million people in the United States will have to change their jobs. Why? Because AI is so capable that it automates 60% - 70% of jobs, especially those of white - collar workers.

The World Economic Forum also sounded the alarm: In the next five years, AI may cause 83 million jobs globally to "disappear". Even if we count the 69 million newly emerging jobs, there will still be a shortage of 14 million jobs.

From McKinsey to Goldman Sachs, all are saying that AI, especially generative AI, is greatly changing the way we make money. Even for jobs that require mental effort, such as writing articles, practicing law, providing customer service, engaging in finance, and doing marketing, AI has already started to take over.

This is not just a problem for ordinary employees. Even some novice or senior entrepreneurs are feeling the pressure. Especially those who are engaged in businesses that rely on repetitive labor, casual development, or have a very low entry threshold.

So, the question is, which entrepreneurs are most likely to be "targeted" by generative AI?

Under the great wave of AI, whose businesses are the most at risk for entrepreneurs?

Next, thinking in reverse, what opportunities can AI not take away?

Entrepreneurs who make money through "repetitive labor"

For this type of entrepreneurs, their core business involves highly standardized, well - defined, and highly repetitive tasks. AI is a natural expert in this area, so their businesses are most likely to be directly "wiped out" by AI.

This kind of work is highly standardized in content, with clear operating procedures and requires a large amount of repetitive execution. For example, simple data entry, document organization, information classification, etc. These tasks usually don't require much thinking. You just need to follow the process.

Artificial intelligence, especially robotic process automation (RPA) and machine learning technologies, can do these tasks much faster than humans and are less prone to errors. They never get tired, have an extremely low error rate, and the marginal cost is almost negligible. Once an AI system learns, it costs almost nothing to use. So, how can humans compete with them?

Take the simple table - organizing service as an example. In the past, you might have hired someone to organize a bunch of messy data into a neat table. Now, AI can recognize text through optical character recognition (OCR) technology and then, combined with natural language processing (NLP), extract and classify information for you, and this work is automatically completed.

The same goes for data entry outsourcing. In the past, manually typing data from paper documents or pictures into the computer was a huge project. Now, AI can automatically recognize and enter data, greatly improving efficiency and reducing the error rate.

There's no need to mention simple customer service. For customer service dealing with common problems and standardized processes, AI - driven chatbots can provide 24/7 uninterrupted service and can always handle a large number of requests gently and patiently. Their response speed and efficiency are far beyond those of humans.

Content entrepreneurs lacking "creativity" and "insight"

In the era of content explosion, originality, in - depth thinking, and personalized style are the core competitiveness of content.

However, many content entrepreneurs stay at the level of templated or "rewritten" content, lacking real creativity and industry insights. These people are the top "victims" of AI - generated content (AIGC).

Some content lacks originality, in - depth thinking, and personalized style and heavily relies on templated or "rewritten" models. It often just simply integrates, rewrites, or edits existing information without any unique viewpoints or value.

With AIGC technology, especially large - language models (LLMs), writing articles, creating images, processing audio, and editing videos have all reached a professional level. They can quickly produce qualified content according to instructions, learn and imitate various styles, summarize and rewrite information, and even generate "original" text, pictures, and video clips.

Let's look at those "rewriting" public - account writers. Many public - account operators just copy and paste, making a few minor changes before publishing. But AI can more efficiently capture, understand, and restructure existing articles to generate new versions, and its speed and quantity far exceed those of humans.

If you only use templates, add common background music and special effects when editing videos without any unique narrative techniques, shot languages, or creative concepts, then AI video - generation tools can easily complete this work and can even automatically generate videos based on text descriptions.

The same is true for the currently emerging content form, podcasts. Some podcast programs have empty content, lacking in - depth interviews or unique viewpoints, and only making general discussions around hot topics. AI can synthesize voices, generate scripts, and even simulate conversations to produce podcast programs that sound "quite decent".

Therefore, if your content lacks unique value and emotional resonance, it is easy to be drowned out by the homogeneous content mass - produced by AI, thus losing user stickiness. When people can obtain a large amount of "good - enough" content for free or at a very low cost from AI, why would they choose you?

Entrepreneurs doing "pseudo - demand" or "low - value" businesses

The services provided by this type of entrepreneurs are either not what users really urgently need, or the value they offer can easily be replaced by cheaper and more efficient methods.

To put it simply, some businesses are the result of information asymmetry or low efficiency. Once AI appears, these "pseudo - demand" or "low - value" businesses will accelerate their decline.

Their businesses are not based on real and urgent market demands. They often take advantage of the market's information gap, the complexity of processes, or the cognitive blind spots of specific groups.

In the future, through big - data analysis, intelligent recommendation, and automated processes, AI can break down information barriers and directly connect supply and demand sides, thus eliminating intermediate links. As a result, businesses that originally relied on information gaps to survive will no longer be necessary.

For example, in the past, many intermediary agencies facilitated transactions by controlling information (such as simple house rentals and labor dispatch). In the future, AI - driven platforms can automatically match resources according to user needs and directly connect supply and demand sides, greatly weakening the value of traditional intermediaries.

Some entrepreneurs just transfer information from platform A to platform B to earn price differences or traffic. But in the future, AI can automatically capture, organize, and distribute information across the entire network through web - crawling technology and intelligent analysis. In this way, this simple "transfer" behavior becomes completely worthless.

There are also some so - called "customized" services. Although they claim to be "customized", the core processes and outputs are actually highly standardized, such as simple website template modification and basic graphic design. When AI tools can provide more intelligent, convenient, and low - cost self - service customization solutions, who will look for others' high - priced customization?

So, what types of entrepreneurs are not easily replaced by AI?

The challenge of AI is indeed severe, but not all entrepreneurs will be defeated by it. Looking at it from another perspective, those areas that can leverage the unique advantages of humans and are difficult for AI to imitate actually contain huge entrepreneurial opportunities.

The first type is, of course, those who can integrate AI tools to create new business models. These entrepreneurs have a forward - looking vision. They regard AI as a powerful tool rather than a threat.

They are not satisfied with the existing capabilities of AI. Instead, they dig deep into the potential of AI and combine it with the professional knowledge and market demands of a certain industry to create new products or services.

They are particularly good at using AI to improve efficiency, optimize decision - making, and even expand business boundaries. For example, using AI to design personalized education programs, develop intelligent medical diagnosis - assistance systems, or create AI - driven art - creation tools.

For instance, Coursera uses AI for personalized course recommendation, AI - based homework correction, and learning tutoring. Now, Coursera has become a leading global online learning platform.

The second type is entrepreneurs who are particularly good at brand building, resonating with users, and building communities.

This is because, although AI can generate a large amount of content, it is difficult for it to truly understand and convey human emotions and values, let alone build deep interpersonal connections.

Therefore, humanistic care, high emotional intelligence, community influence, and excellent brand - storytelling ability become the "winning cards".

This type of entrepreneurs pays special attention to emotional connection, value transmission, and community operation. They can build user loyalty based on trust and recognition. Through real - life interactions and warm communication, they can build strong brand identity and community cohesion.

For example, those community operators focusing on niche interest groups, self - media people who become popular through personal charm and real stories, and offline brands that provide really heartfelt services.

The core of these areas lies in the "human touch" and "connection", which are currently difficult for AI to replace.

Dong Yuhui is a typical example. Through sincere and in - depth knowledge - sharing live - streaming sales, relying on his personal charm and cultural heritage, he has established a strong emotional connection and trust with the audience. He has also built a large fan community and successfully transformed his personal IP into a powerful brand influence.

The third type is entrepreneurs engaged in complex interpersonal collaboration, offline implementation, and emotional services.

For example, advanced medical services, psychological counseling, customized education, complex project management, high - end catering services, and offline experiential event planning.

These businesses involve highly complex interpersonal interactions, on - site hands - on operations, or the provision of in - depth emotional support.

In these scenarios, you often need to be flexible because there is no fixed communication model. You need to have empathy and be able to judge complex situations.

Although AI can help in some aspects, it can never completely replace human on - the - spot decision - making and emotional interaction.

The core value of these occupations lies in dealing with uncertainties, providing personalized solutions, and building trust relationships, all of which require unique human wisdom and emotions.

There is a famous American motivational speaker/life coach named Tony Robbins. He has almost created a new business model - helping people with personal transformation and breakthrough through high - intensity offline seminars, one - on - one coaching, and emotional motivation.

This requires extremely strong empathy, on - the - spot adaptability, interpersonal influence, and in - depth insight into human psychology. This is, of course, currently impossible for AI to replace.

Conclusion

The popularization of AI is irreversible, but not all entrepreneurs will be threatened.

The key lies in whether entrepreneurs can withdraw from areas of repetitive, low - value, and uncreative work and turn to areas that are difficult for AI to reach and require unique human wisdom and emotional input.

How to use AI as a tool rather than an unfeeling terminator is where future entrepreneurs will be distinguished.

Perhaps, those entrepreneurs who can work in collaboration with AI and provide services with a "human touch" and a "soul" will not be defeated by any technological wave.

This article is from the WeChat public account "Hundun University" (ID: hundun - university). Author: Hundun Academy. Republished by 36Kr with permission.