{"id":249190,"date":"2025-09-23T14:54:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/249190\/"},"modified":"2025-09-23T14:54:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T14:54:09","slug":"billionaire-tech-founder-says-if-youre-still-pushing-rto-youre-not-serious-about-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/249190\/","title":{"rendered":"Billionaire tech founder says if you’re still pushing RTO, you’re not serious about AI"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the first time since the pandemic, as of this Summer, the majority of Fortune 100 companies<\/a> have fully in-office policies for their employees. But Brian O\u2019Kelley, 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\u2019re not serious about AI.<\/p>\n

The 48-year-old serial entrepreneur has worked in tech for the past two decades. He\u2019s currently building his third startup, Scope3, a supply-chain emissions data company. And O\u2019Kelley argues that return-to-office mandates mark the line between companies that are truly preparing for an AI-first future\u2014and those stuck in the past.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best companies are going to actually dump their offices to learn to work with non-bodied employees,\u201d O\u2019Kelley exclusively told Fortune. \u201cAnybody who has a back-to-office culture is actually hurting themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

The remote-first AI advantage<\/p>\n

While many CEOs claim they\u2019re calling workers back to their desks to increase productivity, O\u2019Kelley argued that they\u2019ll never be as productive as remote-first firms, like his, that have the pick of top global talent and operate around the clock.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy company works every hour of the day because I have folks in Australia, and folks in San Francisco,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Being spread across time zones doesn\u2019t just make them more available to customers\u2014it forces teams to be efficient and lean on the latest tech in ways traditional office-based companies simply don\u2019t need to.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s a world where everything is written down, because you have to transfer knowledge across these time zones, and we film videos for each other,\u201d he said, adding that it\u2019ll make it easier to integrate with AI eventually too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It\u2019s why companies focusing on presence rather than actual productivity gains that could launch them into an AI-first future are at a real disadvantage<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thing is, if you build a culture that\u2019s asynchronous and remote, it means you\u2019re building a culture for AI to thrive,\u201d \u00a0O\u2019Kelley added. \u201cIf you\u2019re building an office culture, you are actually not building an AI-first ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tech leaders all agree on one thing: You\u2019ll be replaced by someone who uses AI<\/p>\n

O\u2019Kelley isn\u2019t the first tech leader to sound the alarm about the AI race. Numerous CEOs have warned their peers\u2014and employees\u2014that those who don\u2019t embrace AI will be the first to fall behind.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery job will be affected, and immediately. It is unquestionable,\u201d Nvidia\u2019s CEO Jensen Huang stressed earlier this year<\/a>. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to lose your job to an AI, but you\u2019re going to lose your job to someone who uses AI.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, businesses are scrambling to appoint AI leaders, or CAIOs<\/a>, to ensure they\u2019re not left in the lurch\u2014some bosses are even taking AI classes after work<\/a> to brush up on their tech skills.<\/p>\n

But all of those efforts could go to waste if firms aren\u2019t actually structured to take full advantage of AI, as O\u2019Kelley pointed out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because while America declares war on remote work, LinkedIn data shows<\/a> that nearly 50% of jobs in the UK and around 35% of Europe-based businesses still let their workers log on from home\u2014giving those firms a clear advantage when it comes to adopting AI.\u00a0In the U.S., by contrast, less than 20% of jobs offer remote flexibility, the lowest among major economies surveyed.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Bill Gates admitted that AI is moving at a speed that \u201csurprises<\/a>\u201d even him. Those clinging to old ways of working, instead of embracing the future, risk getting left behind.<\/p>\n

Fortune Global Forum<\/strong> returns Oct. 26\u201327, 2025 in Riyadh. CEOs and global leaders will gather for a dynamic, invitation-only event shaping the future of business. Apply for an invitation.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time since the pandemic, as of this Summer, the majority of Fortune 100 companies have…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":249191,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[691,738,244,132172,10841,34815,132173,158,62524,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-249190","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-artificial-intelligence","8":"tag-ai","9":"tag-artificial-intelligence","10":"tag-billionaires","11":"tag-office-culture","12":"tag-productivity","13":"tag-return-to-office","14":"tag-tech-visionaries","15":"tag-technology","16":"tag-the-future-of-work","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115254189310714402","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}