No One Works Here: What AI Actually Changes About Work

MIT built a job title from scratch because Paul Cheek didn't fit any that existed. Now he's ranking the S&P 500 on AI maturity, and the results may surprise you. We get into why AI literacy has to come before AI strategy, why the best managers may not be the ones who make you feel good, and why human fit still matters in a world full of capable agents. Paul also breaks down the four types of AI adopters he found in corporate America and why some of the loudest companies about AI are doing the least.

Key takeaways:

Why "no one works here" doesn't mean nobody has a job, it means the nature of work has changedThe four characteristics Paul uses to evaluate any AI opportunityWhy AI literacy has to come before AI strategy, governance, or data cleanupThe real difference between a personal AI swarm and shared agency across a teamWhy good middle management may be the most underrated skill in an AI-native organizationWhat Paul's S&P 500 AI maturity research revealed about the gap between what leaders say and what their companies actually doWhy human fit and self-awareness still matter even as AI absorbs more of the workWhy the biggest competitive risk isn't AI replacing workers, it's AI-native companies replacing entire organizationsConnect with Jason: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasonbaumgarten/

Email the show here: jason@fithappens.fm

00:00 Cold open: the MIT job that didn't exist

01:11 Introducing Paul Cheek and the book's premise

02:16 Paul's early years and entrepreneurial roots

04:50 Becoming MIT's first hacker in residence

07:04 The real success rate of startups

10:43 Why the unemployed are learning AI fastest

13:42 What Paul brings to the classroom that a PhD doesn't

16:40 Boards, risk, and the risk of not using AI