So what? Larger firms haven’t thought this through. “Firms face a huge disruption problem, because a lot of people are going to jump ship, start their own little professional services firms of small handfuls of exceptional people, operating systems that generate much higher returns than bigger, clumsy components,” predicts Andy Haldane, ex-chief economist at the Bank of England and advisory board member of The Fora Institute of Work. With no junior employees to take their place, where will firms turn?

Firms anticipate: In May, the Office Occupiers Report 2025 from Irwin Mitchell showed nearly two-thirds of organisations surveyed believe they have downsized too much, with 45% planning to expand within the next 12 to 18 months. (See threatened/non-threatened jobs below).

Chimeric talent: An employee hired for one job is quietly crossing boundaries thanks to AI, according to Cassie Kozyrkov, CEO of Kozyra and Google’s first chief decision scientist. She calls this chimeric talent - language-based AI makes new skills instantly available. “They are too powerful for their role but not yet equipped with the judgment or maturity for greater responsibility. They strain the system laterally, testing its resilience more than any previous generation.” This is the workforce of the future. Employees' abilities become unpredictable and situational. Managers can’t just look at credentials or qualifications anymore, she argues. They need to figure out: can I trust this person’s judgment? Do they understand the context well enough to use their new powers responsibly?

The trough of disillusionment: US research firm Gartner pioneered its technology hype cycle in 1995. It has since predicted - with brutal accuracy - how technologies move from introduction to excessive expectations and eventually become more mature or fade away. The graph charts a technology’s trigger, peak of inflated expectation, trough of disillusionment, slope of enlightenment and finally the plateau of productivity. In July 2025, it shows AI entering the trough.

Key takeaway: Now is not the time for sweeping restructures of your business based on AI. When people talk of a bubble, it’s usually wise to be cautious about investment. But take a fresh look at your team. How many chimeras are on your books?