Jack Dorsey isn’t the type to apologize for difficult decisions. After Block dismissed approximately 4,000 employees in February, i.e. nearly 40% of the entire team, the company’s founder is moving on. He has just published an entry in which he outlines his vision of the company of the future. And it is as radical as it is controversial, because employees are supposed to cooperate with AI. Yes, collaborate, not use genAI tools.
No more hierarchy. Jack Dorsey focuses on human-AI cooperation
“The question was never whether you needed layers of management. The question was whether people were the only option for what those layers do. They’re not anymore.”
– wrote Dorsey and Botha on the X website.
The goal of the blockchain enterprise? Building a company as the so-called mini-AGI – organizational intelligence, not just another corporation with an extensive job structure.
People stay – but in different roles
Block doesn’t intend to eliminate humans from the equation (at least not yet). Employees are to be divided into three categories: individual contributors (operating system creators), directly responsible individuals (people responsible for solving specific problems, with full freedom in selecting resources) and player-coaches – hybrids of a manager and a contractor who mentor the team, but still write the code themselves.
It is also worth noting a detail: in March, some of the laid-off employees quietly came back on board. No announcements, no fanfare. Jack Dorsey has not commented publicly.
More than one company’s experiment
Dorsey and Botha do not hide their ambition, because they believe that the model of a company organized as an intelligence, not a hierarchy, will redefine the way businesses of all types operate in the coming years.
Sounds like a manifesto? Yes, but Block is not a startup with a three-slide presentation. Dorsey’s company is a publicly traded company with a real product and billions of dollars in turnover. If this experiment succeeds, the entire tech industry will feel the consequences.
Will AI really replace middle management or will it just give companies a new tool to cut costs at the expense of people?
