AI-first: Let's clear up the confusion once and for all

Duolingo's AI-first announcement in May 2025 triggered such a fierce backlash that they deleted days of TikTok and Instagram posts. Klarna made headlines boasting their chatbot could replace 700 support staff, only to quietly rehire human agents three weeks later when service quality plummeted.

The public reaction was predictable: one viral comment suggested Duolingo should "delete the word people" from their About page, while others dismissed AI-first as "corporate language for mass redundancies."

We've now reached the stage where generative AI, more specifically the frontier LLMs can make an incredible difference to teams who use them wisely.

What AI-first means

Let me clarify what AI-first means, in contrast to the replacement narrative: When beginning any task, you engage with AI first.

That's the essence. Not AI replacing humans. Not AI as one option among many tools. It represents a fundamental shift in how work commences. You open Claude or ChatGPT (or others) before creating that blank document. You begin with dialogue, not solitary effort.

But AI-first speaks to sequence, not supremacy, it's about what happens first in your workflow, not what matters most.

Cognitive ergonomics

Consider the parallel with the 1990s ergonomics movement. We redesigned chairs, keyboards and monitors to enable people to work longer without physical strain. AI-first represents the cognitive sequel. It restructures workflows so the initial action triggers AI assistance, reserving human judgement for high value decisions.

AI-first working applies this same principle to our mental workspaces, giving every knowledge worker an intelligent partner that extends their capabilities without replacing the operator.

The SimCorp success story

When organisations adopt an AI-first mindset, the results are exceptional. SimCorp, the Copenhagen-based investment management solutions provider, demonstrates this effectively. Already recognised as a technology pioneer, they're now setting industry standards for scaling branded content creation within fintech.

Through our work at CogniScale, we're supporting them in scaling content creation by 3-5x without corresponding headcount growth. Following a successful pilot programme, we're now extending implementation to additional commercial teams with diverse workflows and requirements.

This illustrates what CEOs must recognise: AI-first doesn't represent the threat portrayed on social media. It functions as a constructive force for transformation. SimCorp's teams demonstrate increased satisfaction, enhanced capabilities, and superior results. No atmosphere of fear exists. An organisation thoughtfully preparing for the future while many others remain trapped in emotional debates or inertia.

The employment reality

Let's address the elephant in the room: this transformation will reshape employment. Graduate intakes are already shrinking as many entry level analytical tasks migrate to AI. That's reality, not rhetoric and a topic that deserves its own deeper exploration in a future post.

The employees they'll fight to retain? Those who've embedded AI assistants and consultants into their daily workflows.

Workers who embrace this cognitive scaling, partnering with AI for brainstorming, analysis and creation become exponentially more valuable. You're not competing with AI; you're scaling alongside it. Meanwhile, those waiting for normality to return risk obsolescence.

The path forward

The imperative is clear: organisations must invest in their people now, frontier tools, proper training, permission to experiment. Because one pattern is already evident: AI-first workers in AI-first companies thrive.