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For a while now, two feelings about AI have been running at the same time.

The first: genuine excitement. Building automations, watching things happen in hours that used to take weeks. It’s genuinely fun. The second: a quiet, nagging dread. Like… is this actually okay? Are we all sprinting toward something that’s going to be really bad?

The two camps that dominate the conversation haven’t helped much. Camp one says AI is going to end civilisation. Camp two says humans will never have to work again and we’ll all float around painting watercolours in a garden somewhere. Neither feels right. Neither is something worth signing up for.

So when a genuinely different take appeared, one that felt logical rather than either terrifying or naively optimistic, it was worth sharing.

The fear is legitimate

The anxiety around AI isn’t irrational. Big companies are publicly bragging about laying off 70 percent of their workforce because AI can now do those jobs. Entire industries are shifting under people’s feet. If you’ve spent years building a skill, a business, a reputation around doing something really well, the question “is AI coming for this too?” is a reasonable one, not a paranoid one.

What’s been missing is a version of the future that actually makes sense to get excited about. Daniel Priestley’s recent appearance on Diary of a CEO provided exactly that. Priestley, author of Key Person of Influence and Scorecard Marketing, laid out a clear-eyed picture of what the economic landscape looks like as AI scales, and the argument is worth hearing in full (click here to listen).

The gap that AI creates, and who fills it

Here’s the core of it. The big corporations, the ones operating on thin margins and employing thousands of people to do jobs that weren’t exactly fulfilling, are going to automate. Significantly. And yes, that will mean real job losses in certain roles and industries.

But the gap that creates? Small businesses fill it. Not big businesses trying to go small. Actually small businesses. Micro businesses. A tight, smart team solving a specific problem for a specific group of people, and doing it exceptionally well.

This isn’t a new idea. What’s new is that it’s now financially viable in a way it never has been before. Historically, serving a niche market meant high overheads, expensive manpower, and margins that just didn’t make sense. But with the right AI systems in place, the tools that used to be reserved for companies with seven-figure tech budgets are now accessible to a team of two (or even a team of one). A business turning over a couple of million dollars a year, serving a small client base, paying its people well, and staying genuinely profitable is completely achievable now.

Why coaches and course creators are in the best position of anyone

If you’re building a business around a specific area of expertise and a specific audience, you are exactly who this future is built for. While big companies are figuring out how to replace people with AI, small businesses can use AI to do things corporations actually can’t: move fast, stay nimble, and serve a niche in a way a massive organisation never could.

The story isn’t AI versus small business. It’s AI plus small business, and that combination might just be the most powerful position anyone has been in for a very long time.

Click here to listen to the full episode.

Want to Build the AI-Powered Systems That Make This Real?

If this has you thinking about what’s actually possible for your business right now, DM us on Instagram @hellofunnels and let’s talk about which of our programs makes the most sense for where you’re at.