For the first time since the pandemic, as of this Summer, the majority of Fortune 100 companies have fully in-office policies for their employees. But Brian O’Kelley, the tech founder who sold AppNexus to AT&T for $1.6 billion in 2018, has a message for Jamie Dimon, Andy Jassy, and any CEO demanding a return to the office: You’re not serious about AI.

The 48-year-old serial entrepreneur has worked in tech for the past two decades. He’s currently building his third startup, Scope3, a supply-chain emissions data company. And O’Kelley argues that return-to-office mandates mark the line between companies that are truly preparing for an AI-first future—and those stuck in the past.

“The best companies are going to actually dump their offices to learn to work with non-bodied employees,” O’Kelley exclusively told Fortune. “Anybody who has a back-to-office culture is actually hurting themselves.”

The remote-first AI advantage

While many CEOs claim they’re calling workers back to their desks to increase productivity, O’Kelley argued that they’ll never be as productive as remote-first firms, like his, that have the pick of top global talent and operate around the clock.

“My company works every hour of the day because I have folks in Australia, and folks in San Francisco,” he explained. 

Being spread across time zones doesn’t just make them more available to customers—it forces teams to be efficient and lean on the latest tech in ways traditional office-based companies simply don’t need to.

“That’s a world where everything is written down, because you have to transfer knowledge across these time zones, and we film videos for each other,” he said, adding that it’ll make it easier to integrate with AI eventually too. 

It’s why companies focusing on presence rather than actual productivity gains that could launch them into an AI-first future are at a real disadvantage

“The thing is, if you build a culture that’s asynchronous and remote, it means you’re building a culture for AI to thrive,”  O’Kelley added. “If you’re building an office culture, you are actually not building an AI-first ecosystem.”

Tech leaders all agree on one thing: You’ll be replaced by someone who uses AI

O’Kelley isn’t the first tech leader to sound the alarm about the AI race. Numerous CEOs have warned their peers—and employees—that those who don’t embrace AI will be the first to fall behind.

“Every job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,” Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang stressed earlier this year. “You’re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you’re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.”

Now, businesses are scrambling to appoint AI leaders, or CAIOs, to ensure they’re not left in the lurch—some bosses are even taking AI classes after work to brush up on their tech skills.

But all of those efforts could go to waste if firms aren’t actually structured to take full advantage of AI, as O’Kelley pointed out. 

Because while America declares war on remote work, LinkedIn data shows that nearly 50% of jobs in the UK and around 35% of Europe-based businesses still let their workers log on from home—giving those firms a clear advantage when it comes to adopting AI. In the U.S., by contrast, less than 20% of jobs offer remote flexibility, the lowest among major economies surveyed.

Ultimately, Bill Gates admitted that AI is moving at a speed that “surprises” even him. Those clinging to old ways of working, instead of embracing the future, risk getting left behind.

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