It is not a stand-in for the marketers, SEOs, writers, analysts and operators who understand the work. It exists so that a strong team moves faster, decides on sharper evidence, and can see what is actually working.
Using AI as cover to hollow out a capable team is not transformation. It is poor leadership with a technology badge pinned to it.
A round of cuts can make one quarter's deck look better. The people who leave take the context, the judgement, the creativity and the ability to get better with them — and the bill arrives later: slower learning, weaker products, worse calls, stalled growth, lost markets.
Serious companies turn AI speed into more experiments, better products and new markets.
They amplify operators. They do not delete them.