The real target of AI: business models

When knowledge becomes virtually free, intermediaries falter and the economy must reinvent itself at breakneck speed. By Xavier Comtesse and Pascal Eichenberger

It's a silent tectonic shift that's reshaping the business landscape, sector by sector. By making knowledge (writing, translating, coding, etc.), know-how (agentic), and communication (PowerPoint presentations, websites, etc.) free, artificial intelligence (AI) is killing business models. It's the ultimate target.

In this new reality, intermediaries are particularly targeted by artificial intelligence, especially those who profited from the asymmetry of information or knowledge. Between experts and laypeople, there are no longer any barriers, no more "tickets" for entry.

Indeed, AI technology suddenly makes what was expensive free or nearly free, what was slow fast, and what was rare universal. Many business models are no longer viable. The market is adapting urgently. Stock values are collapsing while others soar. A trade-off is necessary.

To verify all of this, let's look at just 5 different sectors of activity:

1. Information Technology

In a supreme paradox, the profession that invented AI is suffering the most. AI generates functional, documented, and tested code at a speed that no human can match. Job postings for developers have fallen by 30%, according to LinkedIn.

2. Media

The newspaper sold scarcity: the investigation , the hierarchy of facts, the byline. The internet shattered that. Social media shattered the hierarchy. Generative AI is now dissolving the byline. Entire articles are produced in seconds. Advertising has migrated to platforms. The reader no longer pays.

3. Banks

The bank branch used to be the linchpin between financial services and people's lives. The banker granted loans, advised on insurance, and offered comfort during times of bereavement. Today, banks close numerous branches every year. The neighborhood branch model is clinically dead. Banking is on your mobile phone!

4. Accounting

Accounting software like Bexio, Crésus, Sage, and Winbiz now integrates AI engines that categorize transactions, reconcile invoices, anticipate VAT , and prepare tax returns. For SMEs and freelancers—the vast majority of accountants' clients—the perceived value of an accounting firm decreases every year. AI will eventually create the conditions for their complete disappearance.

5. Lawyers

Law firms used to charge dozens of associates by the hour to draft NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements), commercial leases, business contracts, legal documents, and so on. Platforms like Harvey, Justitia, and Legalify do this for a few dozen francs. The true strategic lawyer remains irreplaceable, for now, but the supply will dry up.

This destructive/constructive pattern (we are in the midst of the Schumpeterian era) is repeated almost endlessly. In each of these sectors, the economic model was based on the same invisible architecture: knowledge that is difficult to acquire, costly access to information, and a human intermediary who provided the link between the two.

AI dismantles this architecture piece by piece. It acquires knowledge by reading everything that has ever been written. It makes information instantly accessible. It eliminates the need for intermediaries. In short, the models collapse.

By Xavier Comtesse and Pascal Eichenberger