Traditional industries in AI transition

Over the past two years, artificial intelligence has soared higher on the hype curve than any other buzzword in recent memory. This time, the excitement has transcended the tech world and reached virtually every industry. At this point, there are probably very few companies that haven’t at least considered how AI will impact their operations in the future—at least, we hope that’s the case.

At AtoZ, we’ve been actively helping businesses wake up to the transformation AI is bringing. Over the past year, we’ve been in high demand as speakers at AI-focused events, sharing our insights on how organizations can navigate this revolution. And it’s no surprise—we bring a uniquely credible perspective. After all, we’re even shareholders in a company that’s reshaping the traditional book publishing industry through AI. Since not all of our followers have been able to attend these events, we wanted to share the key takeaways here in blog format for everyone.

The AI Revolution Affects Everyone

If you still think the AI revolution doesn’t apply to your business, think again. AI is impacting every industry—it’s just a matter of scale. We can roughly categorize the impact into three levels: administrative change, paradigm shifts, and existential transformation. Where a specific industry or company falls within these categories isn’t always clear-cut, especially with the pace of AI development. However, we can already identify trends and provide tools to help businesses recognize where they stand.

Levels of AI-Driven Transformation

1. Administrative Change

At its most basic level, AI is streamlining administrative functions across industries. While AI won’t replace all jobs, nearly every sector has processes that can be optimized. For example, if you specialize in small-scale home renovations for 30-year-old houses, you’ll likely still have work 30 years from now. But if you run a construction company employing dozens of workers, AI will start optimizing administrative tasks like sales, marketing, HR, and financial management. These efficiency gains will inevitably lead to role consolidation. Future recruitment will likely favor versatile business professionals over narrow specialists, as AI will empower generalists to operate at a specialist level.

Administrative transformation isn’t just about office roles. While much of the AI discussion focuses on knowledge work, some of the most excited adopters are hands-on professionals. Nearly every job today includes administrative burdens that take time away from actual value creation.

For example, I recently had a plumbing upgrade done in my 1958-built house. The plumber complained about the extensive reporting required for his work. Simply generating an invoice took hours because he had to manually log every pipe, fitting, and fastener used. Imagine if he had worn a GoPro-style camera linked to an AI-powered image recognition system that automatically generated reports based on footage of his work. The same system could even pre-fill regulatory reports for review and approval. While this specific solution doesn’t exist yet (hint hint, —we know a firm that could build it!), the technology to make it happen is already here. This is how AI will reshape even the most hands-on professions.

2. Paradigm Shift

At the mid-level of AI impact, entire industries are undergoing paradigm shifts. Here, AI doesn’t create customer value directly, but it significantly reshapes the processes that enable value creation—eliminating many current human roles in the process.

A great example of this is the publishing industry, where AtoZ is deeply involved through Publishertools Oy. In publishing, customer value comes from the author’s creative work. The editor, acting as the book’s project manager, supports the author, manages deadlines, organizes design and formatting, oversees metadata and accessibility, and coordinates audiobook production. Many of these tasks are outsourced or assigned to dedicated in-house specialists, each adding costs that reduce profit margins.

AI is already automating several of these functions. For instance, AI can now generate back-of-the-book indexes for nonfiction titles, eliminating a task that traditionally costs publishers hundreds of euros per book. In audiobook production, AI can automatically generate pronunciation guides for foreign words, reducing costs significantly. Listeners can even select their favorite narrator’s voice, with royalties paid to the voice actor—who may no longer record a single word but simply license their voice to AI.

The shift isn’t limited to production efficiencies. Audiobooks have grown so much that last year, digital book sales in Finland surpassed print book sales for the first time. Many consumers now choose books based on the narrator rather than the author, a trend that’s leading some voice actors in Sweden to license their AI-generated voices for commercial use.

3. Existential Transformation

At the highest level, AI doesn’t just reshape industries—it completely replaces human-driven value creation. In these fields, AI-powered systems will become the primary source of customer value, making human labor obsolete.

Translation and interpretation services are a clear example. AI already provides near-instant, highly accurate simultaneous translation, and as the technology improves, delays will shrink while accuracy continues to rise. Similarly, the taxi industry is set for a complete transformation. In the future, taxi companies will likely become technology platform providers, with autonomous vehicles fulfilling ride requests on Uber-like platforms. If I were making career decisions today, I would think twice before training for entry-level logistics, customer service, or translation roles.

Preparing for the Future

At the heart of every business is value creation for customers. To determine where your company stands in the AI revolution, conduct a customer value analysis:

• What drives customer value in your industry?

• What processes support value creation?

• How can these processes be broken down into discrete tasks?

• Which tasks could AI automate today?

• Which ones could AI automate in five or ten years?

• How should job roles be restructured to adapt to these changes?

Using this analysis, businesses should develop an AI strategy now to guide their broader business and change management strategies. Organizations—both private and public—must be ready to refocus and restructure in response to the evolving landscape.

Still unsure about AI? If you need help understanding where your business fits into the AI revolution, or if you lack the technical expertise to grasp AI’s full potential, don’t hesitate to reach out. Our experts are ready to guide you through the transition, step by step.