Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is transforming the "things" at an unprecedented rate. Every kind of object, thoughts, actions, assets, all the things we can imagine are becoming AI-Native like this blog post (of course, I took advantage of AI to write this blog post). You can have an outlook on the future of becoming it, why we need to become it and what are the strategical effects of becoming it.
Introduction
Today's world is changing and most of us cannot catch up with the changes. We saw lots of assistants for daily life. In the early days of AI, Siri, Google Assistant, etc. But now, we have ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and so on. It has become the new normal. I can't even imagine how we were living without these generative assistants. But it does not end here, we are at the very beginning of the AI-Native world. Later maybe Singularity?
AI-Native
Every day there are new models emerging, new companies getting funding, new products... On the other hand, we see wars all around the world, climate changes and so on. AI is affecting every corner of the world, changing how we think, how we eat, how we fight, how we live.
During my undergraduate studies, I first came across "XXX"-Native concepts with the Cloud-Native concept (Cloud Native Computing Foundation, 2021), most probably. To be honest, most of the players in the Technology Industry could not even apply Cloud-Native practices to their businesses.
AI-Native is a similar concept but this is not about a business practice, it is about a way of thinking, a way of working, a way of living. As an engineer, I always try to optimize things, my schedule, life, work... I can clearly say doing all these things by using AI assistants and this is the AI-Native concept. In case you use AI only for work or education, I would not say you are AI-Native, you are just a "user" of AI.
Transformation
Digital Transformation is ongoing for every kind of industry yet most companies do not even have an idea about digital transformation. With the hype of AI they are realizing the importance of digital transformation (McKinsey & Company, 2025a).
Companies
Now, I would separate the companies into four groups:
- The big ones which define the AI-Native world
- Already took the advantage of digital transformation
- That are in the process of digital transformation
- Not even aware of the importance of digital transformation
The big ones which define the AI-Native world
These companies do not have to be huge companies such as OpenAI, Google, Palantir. We include the startups that work on AI and transformative technologies. They are defining the concepts, new models, funding practices. Besides, they are working on multidisciplinary products and services. Basically, they are the ones who are defining the AI-Native world.
Already took the advantage of digital transformation
In this category, we have a range of companies from small startups to big companies. They have already taken advantage of digital transformation, generally became Cloud-Native companies, started to use AI for their products and services (McKinsey & Company, 2025b) but they cannot shape the AI-Native world, they are consumers of the big ones, they do not own data centers, GPUs and also cannot take advantage of government policies, funds, loans... They target specific segments and are building their products and services around them. For this reason, applying the AI practices is more than enough for them, they can survive in the AI-Native world.
That are in the process of digital transformation
These companies are generally legacy companies, I would not put new emerging startups into this category. They can range from small to big scale again but they are being really late to the game because they have to burn unnecessary resources to catch up with the others due to their lack of strategical awareness about digital strategy. If they are willing to burn cash for a certain time, they can go up to the next category. Otherwise, it does not look like they will survive in the long run even with the government support.
Not even aware of the importance of digital transformation
My dear friend, I hope you are not in this category. Scale does not matter, awareness does. Generally, these companies are small, local companies, they do not have a global presence, do not even have a strategy, just a business model which generates some revenue. But digital transformation is not about the scale, it is about the awareness. I would say they should apply business practices for the digital transformation at least, not to generate cash from it but to survive in the long run. Do not be afraid of burning cash.
Human Transformation
First of all, this is an ethical problem and it is unclear whether the world can solve this ethically or we will ruin the whole culture around human beings. But to be clear about one thing, AI can replace any kind of job you see (World Economic Forum, 2026) but nobody wants it from a business and ethical perspective. Because our world is right now human-centric, which means we are creating value for human beings. When you lay off the humans, there is no reason to generate value for them, unless you are generating value for another species.
Yes, I am talking about the agents, robots, which are the new emerging consumers for the products and services. The world is preparing for this new era, there are lots of communication protocols for communication between agents such as MCP (Model Context Protocol, 2024), AP2 (Agent Payments Protocol, 2025), UCP (Universal Commerce Protocol, 2026)... But we are designing these new protocols for the human-centric world again, these agents will consume the products and services but for a human. Your agent will consume things for you.
From the firm's perspective, I would not appreciate the replacement of humans with agents in the early days of the AI-Native world but workers have to adapt to this new era (World Economic Forum, 2026), they have to be AI-Native. For this reason their educational practices have to be updated and adjusted to the new era.
Commenting about mass layoffs for the future would be speculation, so I am out of this conversation. But what you see on X (Twitter) about laying off employment is another piece of garbage just continue to do what you are doing but for sure become AI-Native.
Organizational Transformation
The ones in the organizational part of the companies are getting more important. They are responsible for every kind of transformation but they are also part of the transformation. They have to be proactive and willing to apply AI practices to their companies, to their digital strategy. From the base case there is no expectation from them to generate revenue or at least survive in the long run. Without being AI-Native, they will not be able to survive in the long run. But other than these, I would not say that their positions will be changing like the workers.
Industry Transformation
Industries are transforming from bottom to their very top. At first they were naturally forced by the market demands and they had to apply digital transformation and now AI-Native is the new normal. Consumer behavior is changing, companies are changing and their industry practices are changing. From the Technology Industry to the Warfare Industry, analyzing big data, AI-driven decision making, autonomous systems (McKinsey & Company, 2025b)... Things are happening here and companies need to be aware and invest carefully in order to survive.
Strategical Effects
With Moore's Law (Moore, 1965) the performance of the processors is increasing exponentially, the cost of the processors is decreasing exponentially. This is the reason why we are able to see the digital transformation happening everywhere. From the strategical perspective, IT commodities were insignificant to the strategy because they are becoming cheaper and available to all. Nowadays, AI chips are the new commodity, they are not only for the big ones and they are NOT becoming available to all? There is a chip crisis around the world when we talk about GPUs (Bain & Company, 2024), of course we are in the early times of these technologies but expecting to become cheaper in the near future would be a dream.
IT strategy has to change. To be AI-Native, whether you are a consumer or a provider of the AI services, you have to make room for AI in your strategy. If you are being AI-Native, you need to have the ability to build your own AI models at some point because the "data" you produce is becoming much more essential for your business (McKinsey & Company, 2024). Creating and delivering a business is not the crucial part now, it is about the data you produce and how you use it. I would say IT commodity (GPUs, TPUs... not CPUs) is becoming an essential part of the strategy at least for the near future.
"AI does not generate revenue" is another piece of garbage from X (Twitter). This is a strategic decision which you must make for your business. At the very first years of this transformation, you would NOT expect to generate revenue from AI, you would only expect to "survive" in the long run, generating positive cash flow is not the key point here. This happened with the digital transformation, with the digital transformation, your company survived and now you are here, generating revenue from your services. Your core business is not changing but the practices are changing.
Honest advice on this, "IT commodity" is up to you, I would strongly recommend being an AI-Native company in a structured course within your digital strategy.
Conclusion
Being AI-Native has been the new normal for a few years and it will remain so. We are at the very beginning of this transformation and we are not sure about the future. But we know one thing: we need to be AI-Native to survive in the long run.
References
- Cloud Native Computing Foundation. (2021). Cloud native technology. CNCF Glossary. CNCF Glossary
- McKinsey & Company. (2025a). The state of AI: How organizations are rewiring to capture value. McKinsey & Company
- McKinsey & Company. (2025b). The state of AI in 2025: Agents, innovation and transformation. McKinsey & Company
- World Economic Forum. (2026). Four futures for jobs in the new economy: AI and talent in 2030. World Economic Forum
- Model Context Protocol. (2024). MCP specification. Model Context Protocol
- Agent Payments Protocol. (2025). Agent Payments Protocol documentation. Agent Payments Protocol
- Universal Commerce Protocol. (2026). Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP) guide. Google for Developers. Google for Developers
- Moore, G. E. (1965). Cramming more components onto integrated circuits. Electronics, 38(8), 114–117. Intel Virtual Vault
- Bain & Company. (2024). Prepare for the coming AI chip shortage. Tech Report 2024. Bain & Company
- McKinsey & Company. (2024). Intelligence at scale: Data monetization in the age of gen AI. McKinsey & Company