Business and Money Tips

The Hidden Danger of AI Productivity What if AI helps you work twice as fast, but makes your organisation half as innovative? We have been told that AI will transform the workplace by helping us work faster, smarter and more efficiently. But a recent report in The Straits Times , featuring researchers from INSEAD and Google DeepMind, raises a disturbing possibility: AI may boost individual productivity while undermining workplace innovation. The reason is surprisingly simple. We are becoming more self-sufficient, but less connected to one another. Martin Gonzalez, head of organisational AI research at Google DeepMind, describes a phenomenon called the “self-sufficiency spiral.” Instead of asking colleagues for advice, employees increasingly turn to AI. Why wait for your manager when ChatGPT can answer immediately? Why brainstorm with colleagues when AI can generate 20 ideas in seconds? Why risk disagreements when AI is always available and rarely makes you feel uncomfortable? ...

Stop Fearing AI Taking Your Job. Start Fearing the Opportunities You May Miss! Sun Tzu Art of War had the answer 2,500 years ago. First Principles Thinking explains why. Everyone is asking:  "Will AI take away my job?" I think we are asking the wrong question. What if AI creates so many new opportunities that we cannot find enough people to seize them? Sun Tzu's Art of War begins with five fundamental factors, placing Dao (道) first. Dao is about shared purpose, direction, and alignment. Before asking HOW to win, we must understand WHY we are fighting. This connects beautifully with First Principles Thinking . Instead of accepting the assumption that AI destroys jobs, question it. What is the fundamental purpose of work? Is it to perform repetitive tasks?  Or is it to create value, solve problems, serve people, and improve lives? If AI can perform certain tasks faster and cheaper, why fight it?  Let AI do what it does best. We focus on creating value that was previously ...

AI Is Taking Over Human Actors. Is This the End of Acting as We Know It? AI is no longer just helping filmmakers write scripts, edit videos or create special effects. It can now generate realistic-looking actors, voices, facial expressions and entire performances, without hiring a human actor for every role. For producers, this creates enormous opportunities to reduce costs and experiment creatively. For human actors, however, it raises an uncomfortable question: If AI can perform my role at a fraction of the cost, why would anyone continue hiring me? But there is an even bigger question for the entertainment industry: If replacing human actors makes filmmaking cheaper, does it necessarily make the industry more sustainable? Not necessarily. AI can improve financial performance while creating new challenges involving employment, consent, intellectual property, audience trust and the long-term development of creative talent. The real-world warning: AI actress Tilly Norwood In 2025, the ...

Google has just issued a warning about AI-generated Content.  If you use AI to write content for your website, Google says that using AI content can hurt your SEO if you're using it the wrong way.  Like generating hundreds of pages without adding real value could violate Google's spam policies.  1. Don't just copy and paste AI content.   AI can make up facts, statistics, and information that sounds completely believable.  Manually fact-check and review AI-generated content before publishing.  2. Add your own experience Instead of asking AI to write for you, have AI interview you first.  Give the AI your expertise, opinions, stories and real examples.  Then have AI turn that information into helpful content.  3. Make Sure that Your Content is Actually Helpful, not Just Nice to Read or Watch Ask yourself: Does your information offer something people can't find in every other article?   4. If not sure, ask yourself if you are usin...

AI越来越聪明，生活越来越贵，世界却越来越乱。 我们拼命发展科技，努力创造财富，为什么生活反而越来越焦虑？ 看看当今世界，三大问题正困扰着无数人。 第一，物价上涨，钱越来越不经花。 以新加坡为例，2026年8月的消费者物价指数同比上涨2.3%。能源、交通等生活开支的压力，让不少人感叹：赚钱不容易，花钱却越来越快！ 第二，AI越来越厉害，饭碗还能保得住吗？ AI能写文章、做分析、编程序，甚至完成过去需要专业人士才能完成的工作。 国际劳工组织指出，AI尚未造成大规模就业替代，但正在改变工作方式，对人的判断力、适应力、社交能力提出更高要求。 第三，战争不断，和平为什么这么难？ 伊朗冲突牵动能源、航运和全球经济。战争不只是战场上的事情，最终影响的可能是千家万户的生活成本与未来。 看起来，这是三个完全不同的问题。 一个是钱的问题，一个是工作的问题，一个是国际政治的问题。 但我认为，它们都指向同一个问题： 当世界越来越不确定，人类应该如何应对？ 我的答案是： 爱的智慧（Love IntelligenceLQ） 不是空谈爱情，更不是叫大家一味忍让。 而是三个字： 关心、勇气、连接。 一、物价上涨，需要的是关心（Care） 物价上涨，抱怨有用吗？ 与其天天喊贵，不如认真问自己： 钱花到哪里去了？哪些开支可以减少？哪些资源可以重复利用？怎样用同样的钱创造更大的价值？ 真正的关心，不只是关心别人，也包括关心自己、家人和企业的财务健康。 省钱不是委屈自己，而是减少浪费，把资源用在真正值得的地方。 这就是爱的智慧，也是财务治理。 二、AI抢饭碗，需要的是勇气（Courage） AI越来越聪明，你还要跟AI比谁更会整理资料、写报告、做PPT吗？ 那可能是一场越打越吃力的仗。 真正的勇气，不是拒绝AI，而是敢于改变自己。 让AI处理重复性的工作，把自己的精力放在判断、创新、解决复杂问题、建立信任和领导团队上。 更重要的是，有勇气做正确的事，而不是只做容易的事。 不要跟AI拼谁更像机器，而要让自己成为更有价值的人。 这才是AI时代真正需要的竞争力。 三、世界充满冲突，需要的是连接（Connection） 为什么人与人之间有分歧，就一定要争个你死我活？为什么国家之间有利益冲突，就非得兵戎相见？ 两千多年前，孙子就提出了一个极高的战略境界： 不战而屈人之兵。 真正的高手，不是打赢每一场仗，而是懂得如...

In an AI World Where Anyone Can Create Anything, Who Can You Trust? Today, almost anyone can create almost anything. AI can write an impressive article in seconds.  It can create beautiful photographs of people who never existed. It can clone voices, generate videos, compose music, design advertisements and make ordinary people appear to be experts. Soon, the question may no longer be: “Can this be created?”   Almost certainly, it can. The more important question becomes: “Can I trust it?” And even more importantly: “Can I trust YOU?” AI Makes Creation Cheap. Trust Becomes Expensive. When everyone can produce professional-looking content, appearance becomes less valuable. When everyone can sound knowledgeable, knowledge alone becomes less differentiating. When anyone can create the image of success, reputation becomes more important than presentation. The competitive advantage therefore shifts. From what you can create to whether people believe you . From information to i...

The Board Will Never Catch Up with AI — And It Doesn't Have To To Govern AI, Understand the Humans Who Use It AI is advancing faster than most boards can possibly follow. By the time directors understand today's AI, tomorrow's technology has arrived. So how can a board govern something it struggles to keep up with? Perhaps we are asking the wrong question. Boards don't need to understand AI better than the technologists. They need to understand humans better than the technology. Because ultimately, one of the biggest risks of AI is not simply what AI can do. It is what humans will choose to do with it. The Real AI Risk May Be Human Imagine management presents an AI-generated forecast showing that a major investment will deliver excellent returns. The board could ask:  "How accurate is the AI model?" Important question. But perhaps the more important questions are: Who chose the assumptions? Is management using AI to challenge its thinking, or to justify a deci...

AI省下了时间，然后呢？ AI时代最大的问题，已经不是： “我们会不会用AI？” 而是： “当AI越来越能取代人的工作，人怎么办？” 这里有一个很矛盾的问题。 企业不断培训员工使用AI，提高生产力。但如果所谓的“提高生产力”，最终只是意味着 公司需要更少的人 ，员工为什么要积极学习一种可能减少自己工作机会的工具？ 所以，我们必须重新思考： 什么才是真正的AI生产力？ 假设过去需要20个人完成的工作，现在10个人加上AI就能完成。 对企业来说，成本降低了，账面上的生产力也提高了。 但这只是故事的一半。 如果另外10个人失业，又无法找到新的、有价值的工作，整个社会同时失去了他们的 收入、消费能力、技能和未来可能创造的价值 。 所以： 降低成本，创造的是效率。 创造新价值，带来的才是进步。 AI真正的机会，不应该只是“少请几个人”，而是把AI释放出来的 时间、人才和资源，重新投入价值创造。 如果AI每天帮我省下两个小时，我要问： 这两个小时，我拿来做什么？ 只是少工作两个小时？ 还是裁掉一个人的工作？ 或者利用这两个小时： 开拓新市场、开发新产品、改善客户体验、创造新的商业模式，甚至解决过去解决不了的社会问题？ 例如人口老龄化、生育率下降、医疗、教育、永续发展等。 这才是真正值得追求的AI革命。 所以，CEO、HR和董事会不应该只问： “AI可以帮我们省多少钱？” 更应该问： “AI释放出来的人类能力，可以为我们创造什么新的价值？” 因为未来真正优秀的企业，不是利用AI让人变得更便宜。 而是 让AI使人变得更有价值。 省时间，不等于生产力。 把省下来的时间变成价值，才是真正的AI生产力。

AI Saves Time. But What Are We Saving the Time For? The biggest question about AI is no longer: “How do we use AI?” It is: “What happens to humans when AI can do more and more of their work?” There is an uncomfortable paradox. We train employees to use AI to become more productive. But if “productivity” simply means that the company eventually needs fewer employees, why should workers enthusiastically help train the technology that may reduce the need for their jobs? This is where we need to rethink what AI productivity really means. Suppose AI allows ten people to do the work previously done by twenty. The company may save money. Its measured productivity may rise. But that is only part of the equation. If the other ten people lose their jobs and cannot find productive new work, society also loses their income, consumption, skills and potentially their future contribution. The real opportunity from AI comes when the time and resources it releases are reinvested into human value creat...

企业疯狂拥抱AI，董事会看见风险了吗？ 很多企业正在加速采用AI。但真正的问题已经不是： “我们有没有用AI？” 而是： “我们的企业，真的准备好了吗？” AI表面上是科技问题，实际上更是 战略、人才、风险和企业治理问题 。 董事会尤其需要警惕以下7个盲点。 1. 有AI，不等于准备好AI 购买AI工具很容易，但企业是否有合适的数据、人才、流程、网络安全和内部控制？ 科技准备好了，不代表组织准备好了。 2. 最大障碍可能不是科技，而是人 员工担心被取代，管理者不知道如何重新设计工作，有些员工抗拒AI，另一些却在没有管控下疯狂使用AI。 所以董事会必须问： 哪些工作会消失？哪些工作会改变？我们的人才准备好了吗？ 3. 你以为公司还没用AI，其实员工早就在用了 员工可能已经把客户资料、财务数据、公司文件甚至知识产权输入公共AI平台。 所以董事会不应该只问：“我们什么时候开始采用AI？” 而应该问： “现在公司里面，到底谁已经在用AI？他们把什么东西交给了AI？” 4. AI说得很有信心，不代表它是对的 AI可以写出非常漂亮、专业而且充满自信的答案——同时完全错误。 如果AI参与招聘、信贷、投资、财务分析或客户决策，出了问题： 谁负责？ 企业绝不能以一句： “AI是这样建议的。” 来取代人的责任。 5. 不要只看到“采用AI”的风险 采用AI太快有风险。但 采用得太慢，同样有风险。 如果竞争对手利用AI降低30%成本、把服务速度提高一倍、产品开发时间缩短一半，你怎么办？ 董事会真正需要判断的是： 哪里应该加速？ 哪里应该实验？ 哪里必须踩刹车？ 6. 不要用“用了多少AI”衡量成功 “我们有50个AI项目。”“5,000名员工接受了AI培训。”“70%的员工正在使用AI。” 这些只是 活动（Activity） ，不是成果（Outcome）。 董事会真正应该问： AI创造了多少收入？ 降低了多少成本？ 改善了什么决策？ 解决了什么客户问题？ 7. 最大的风险：没有想象AI成功之后会发生什么 假如AI真的非常成功呢？ AI取代30%的基础工作，年轻员工以后如何学习？ 客户全部跟AI沟通，人与人的关系怎么办？ 大家使用相同AI模型，企业会不会越来越没有差异？ 如果人越来越依赖AI判断，...

Many boards are accelerating AI adoption as if slow adoption will mean big losses.  Truth be told, without understanding the governance and human resource implications, boards are overestimating AI benefits and ignoring the risks of AI adoption.  For example, one public accounting firm uses AI to analyse clients' financial statements and did not realize that such data entered into the internet is available for all to see.  This creates a big privacy issue that breaks trust with its clients.  1.  The question is:  Are we actually ready to use AI responsibly and productively? Buying AI tools is easy. Readiness requires clean and accessible data, appropriate infrastructure, capable people, redesigned processes, cybersecurity, controls and management accountability. A company can be technologically AI-enabled but organisationally AI-unready . 2. Underestimating the human problem The biggest barrier is not technology but  people . Employees fear replacement...

China's AI-microdrama explosion is extraordinary. About 128,000 microdramas were released in Q1 2026, roughly 122,000 of them fully AI-generated . Production costs have fallen dramatically: one reported comparison puts an episode at around RMB5,000 using AI versus RMB50,000 traditionally, while production time can fall from weeks to days. But the backlash has arrived. Hongguo reported checking 15,000 works and taking action against hundreds of problematic titles; Douyin's short-drama copyright centre reportedly removed 6,087 micro/animated dramas linked to piracy, while Kuaishou examined more than 8,000 AI animated dramas and removed 900+ problematic works. The problems include stolen faces and voices, unauthorised use of IP, copied story structures and characters, and AI-generated material without proper authorisation . Peach Blossom Hairpin , for example, was removed after allegations that people's photographs and likenesses had been used without permission. AI Can M...

Economic Growth No Longer Guarantees Job Growth How AI Is Changing Every Industry, and How We Stay Employable For decades, we understood economic growth quite simply: Economy grows → Companies grow → Companies hire → More jobs AI is beginning to break that relationship. Today, a company can increase sales, serve more customers and produce more output without increasing its workforce proportionately . Why? Because AI allows the same person, or a much smaller team, to accomplish far more. The ILO's review of AI research found substantial productivity gains in experiments, while the World Economic Forum says 86% of employers expect AI and information-processing technologies to transform their businesses by 2030 . This does not mean economic growth will create no jobs . It means the old assumption that growth automatically produces large numbers of similar jobs is becoming less reliable. AI Is Not Just Changing Technology Companies Consider what is already happening across i...

如果AI已经如此像人，人类还剩下什么？ 完全由AI创造的方桃子，来自AI短剧《被裁掉的女孩》 火了。 这部短剧在单一平台的播放量已经超过2.5亿，方桃子拥有数十万粉丝和数千万点赞，并吸引了大量品牌广告与产品代言。 但方桃子最吸引人的地方，恰恰是—— 她并不完美。 她会犯错。她会流汗。她会疲惫。她的妆会花。 她的脸上甚至会出现毛孔和瑕疵。 她越来越不像AI。 她越来越像我们。 于是，一个过去只存在于科幻电影的问题，突然摆在我们面前： 如果AI越来越像人，人类还剩下什么？ 这正是爱的智慧（Love Intelligence，LQ）变得比过去更加重要的地方。 AI越聪明，人类的竞争优势就越不能只建立在“聪明”之上。 而AI越像人，我们真正的优势，就越必须来自： 真正地做人。 这让我们重新回到爱的智慧的3C： Care 关爱 不是“表现得很关心”，而是 真正地关心一个人。 Courage 勇气 不是生成一段关于勇气的文字，而是 明知道有风险，依然愿意承担责任、作出选择。 Connection 连接 不是拥有百万粉丝，而是 人与人之间建立真正的关系与信任。 未来，AI也许能够把这三样东西都“表演”得非常好。 但人类不是表演它们。 我们活出它们。 当AI越来越像人， 真正地做人，反而成为我们的竞争优势。 过去，我们愿意为“完美”付出高价。 但是进入AI时代， 完美正在变得越来越便宜。 完美的照片，可以生成。 完美的英文，可以生成。 完美的PPT，可以生成。 完美的广告，可以生成。 甚至一个完美的人，也可以生成。 当“完美”变得随手可得， 什么反而变得稀缺？ 真实。信任。判断力。责任感。 人与人的关系。人生的意义。 而在商业世界里： 稀缺，就意味着价值。 所以： AI让智能变得越来越普及， LQ让人性变得越来越珍贵。 方桃子的出现，并没有削弱爱的智慧（LQ）的价值。 恰恰相反。 她让LQ变得比以前更加重要。 因为当机器连我们的“不完美”都能够模仿的时候， 人类已经不能再靠**“看起来像人”**来证明自己的价值。 我们必须真正活出人的价值： **关爱 Care 勇气 Courage 连接 Connection** 当AI越来越像人， 真正地做人，就是我们的竞争优势。

Fang Taozi (方桃子) from the AI-generated short drama The Girl Who Got Laid Off is a hit. This drama has 250 million views on a single platform, with Taozi gaining hundreds of thousands of followers and tens of millions of likes.  She also earns thousands from product endorsements.  Taozi is imperfect, she makes mistakes, she sweats, and her make-up melts and her fact has pores.  She is very human.  So perhaps we have been asking the wrong question. Actors and people are now asking the question: If AI Can Become Almost Human, What's Left for Humans? This is where I believe Love Intelligence (LQ) becomes even more important The more intelligent AI becomes, the less our competitive advantage can depend purely on intelligence. And the more human AI looks , the more our advantage must come from actually being human . That brings us back to the 3Cs of Love Intelligence: Care — not appearing to care, but actually caring. Courage — not generating the language of cour...

Why do smart leaders fail despite having more technology, more data, and more intelligence than ever before? In an age where Artificial Intelligence can generate reports, analyze information, and automate decisions, many organizations are facing a surprising challenge. Employee engagement is falling, burnout is rising, and trust is becoming increasingly fragile. The problem is not technology. The problem is that many leaders are becoming technologically stronger while becoming emotionally weaker. Drawing on research from Gallup and Google Project Aristotle, real-world case studies from healthcare, banking, customer service, and AI transformation initiatives, as well as the author's experience in KPMG Management Consulting and corporate leadership, this book explores the human capabilities that remain essential in the AI era. Inside, you will discover: • Why intelligent leaders sometimes struggle to inspire trust • The hidden reason many AI initiatives encounter resistance • What hi...