If Internet was About DTC, AI will be about Autonomy and Automation

Summed up in a single word, some might say the internet’s primary impact has been “communication.” Some might say artificial intelligence will bring “automation.”

Others might say the main economic impact of the internet has been disintermediation, the removal of steps or stages in distribution chains. “Direct to consumer” is another way of illustrating the impact. 

Outcomes	Internet	AI
Primary Impact on Value Chains	Disintermediation, personalization	Automation, autonomy
Benefits	Lower costs, increased competition, improved customer experience, agility, customer engagement, different business models	Increased efficiency, reduced costs, improved accuracy, 24/7 operation, potential shift of human activities to higher-value tasks, predictive maintenance.
Challenges	Brand awareness, data privacy, ethical considerations	Job displacement, ethical considerations, safety and security
Overall Impact	Disruption of traditional value chains,	Revolutionizing value chains
Direct to Consumer	Enabled direct communication and interaction between businesses and consumers, leading to increased transparency.	Amplifies D2C trend by providing deeper customer insights and enabling personalized marketing and sales strategies.
Personalization	Enabled personalized experiences by collecting and analyzing customer data to personalize product recommendations, pricing, content, and advertising.	Automates and optimizes the personalization process through real-time learning and adaptation, resulting in highly customized and dynamic experiences.

AI is likely to be different. As value chains already are disintermediated and built on “direct to consumer.” Instead, “automation” or “autonomy” are likely to be the distinguishing characteristics of AI impact. 

At the moment, it is hard to predict whether automation or autonomy will be the bigger trend, though both will happen. 

AI can automate repetitive tasks, leading to more-efficient, accurate operations. But AI also can operate autonomously in some use cases, learning or adapting without human intervention.

So AI might produce “efficiency” as an outcome of its automation efforts. But it might also create “effectiveness” in its autonomous operation role. Automation will be based on pre-programmed rules, while autonomy will be based on independent learning. 

So AI automation will tend to produce “efficiency” outcomes such as “do it faster” or “do it more comprehensively” or “more accurately.” 

AI autonomy might also produce “effectiveness” outcomes such as “do it a different way” based on trial and error.