When Expertise Is Free: Reflections on AI, Human Work, and Responsibility

As a startup, we often need experienced consultants in engineering, design, sales, and marketing. But being bootstrapped, we’ve found ourselves turning instead to O3, OpenAI’s Mensa-level reasoning model.

The Power — and Provocation — of O3

O3’s advice has been precise, analytically explained, well-referenced, and often more insightful than I’d expect from a human expert, even in obscure areas of knowledge. It’s a powerful reminder of how quickly deep human expertise may be becoming commoditised.

This raises important questions:

• How will society function when deep expertise no longer commands a price that supports human effort?

• Will it diminish students’ motivation to study if the answers are always just a prompt away?

• Do we have a moral obligation to hire humans even when equally good (or better) advice is freely available from AI?

How We’re Approaching This at Airgentic

At Airgentic, we’re committed to using these technologies responsibly by:

• Automating repetitive tasks (answering product questions or guiding customers through procedures) to free human agents for complex or high-empathy issues where judgment matters most.

• Empowering human agents with AI as a real-time assistant, helping them locate information, summarise prior interactions, and recommend responses without removing their agency or discretion.

• Reducing customer wait times and frustration by understanding intent and eliminating the need for customers to repeat themselves across channels.

The Bigger Picture

This is more than a question of cost-efficiency. It’s about how we value human expertise and craft a future where AI and humans complement each other rather than replace one another.