How AI is creating a crisis of business sameness

"As I type, Microsoft Copilot suggests ways to continue, restructure, or even rewrite this very sentence. On the surface, it feels like a small thing, no more remarkable than Gmail finishing an email or Google predicting a search-but small things can have outsize influence. Just as the steady drip of water on rock can carve out new channel over time, so predictive text has already reshaped how we write. Research from Harvard has shown that predictive text systems do not just make texting easier-they change the content of those texts, reducing lexical diversity and making our writing more predictable."

"This flattening effect is beginning to extend beyond language. Filmmakers have been worried for some time now about the rise of "algorithm movies"-movies whose form and content are dictated by what recommendation algorithms tell companies about viewer preferences, instead of by the creative imagination of writers and directors. And if executives aren't careful, we can soon expect the emergence of "algorithm business"-strategy, operations, and culture flattened out by the rise of LLMs and the race to adopt AI."

Predictive AI tools influence writing by suggesting continuations, restructures, and rewrites, which reduce lexical diversity and increase predictability. Small, repeated interventions accumulate and reshape habitual expression and creative choices. The same flattening tendency appears in film, where recommendation-driven "algorithm movies" prioritize formulaic elements over imaginative risk. Increasing reliance on large language models positions them as default advisers for executives, embedding consensus-driven outputs into strategy and operations. That reliance risks narrowing the range of ideas available to organizations and producing homogenized pitches, culture, and decisions.

Read at Fast Company