Economists like Erik Brynjolfsson note that AI creates the greatest enterprise value when paired with valuable complementary assets. How do we identify and build those complementary organizational assets into our V/TO so we do not get commoditized?

Question

Tyler Smith · Accepted Answer

When raw analysis, code, and text become cheap and widely available, the businesses that win are not the ones using the best AI models. Everyone has access to the exact same foundational models. The winners are the businesses that control the scarce, physical, and human complements that AI requires to deliver real-world outcomes.

In your V/TO, evaluate your Three Uniques through the lens of complementary assets. Identify what your clients desperately need that a language model cannot supply:
- Real-world execution and physical operational accountability.
- Deep regulatory licensing, compliance standing, and legal liability assumption.
- Curated, proprietary operational data collected over decades of actual client engagements.
- High-trust personal relationships and change-management leadership.

If your current differentiation relies on doing standard cognitive analysis or producing routine reports, your business is at immediate risk of commoditization. Shift your Core Focus toward the implementation, verification, and human guidance that turn machine-generated ideas into verified business results.

Update your Proven Process to clearly show the client where AI accelerates preparation and where your senior experts provide the irreplaceable judgment. Machine intelligence is simply a raw input. Your organizational structure, accountability, and execution capacity are the high-value complements that buyers and clients will gladly pay for.