Let a Hundred Kiwi SMEs Bloom. And Let AI Be the Catalyst, Not the Collapse.

“Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend”.

It was a call to open up, to allow diverse voices and ideas to flourish. The campaign eventually turned dark, but the core principle stuck: real progress happens when you unlock many minds, not just a few at the top.

That idea has never been more relevant, because as AI threatens to displace huge swathes of middle-layer work. We might be not only watching job losses on mass take shape, we're watching the foundations of New Zealand’s workforce shift.

And while that shift is scary, it could also be our brightest opportunity, if we treat this moment not as a collapse, but as a clearing.

Let a hundred SMEs bloom. And let mass layoffs be the unexpected catalyst.

AI is wiping out the middle layer of work: the admin, research, scheduling, reporting. The stuff people relied on to stay valuable. And when that goes, it doesn’t feel like innovation.

“It’s not freeing people for higher-order tasks. It’s deleting the currency of participation.” (Not my words, but one of the most accurate lines I’ve seen).

That middle layer wasn't always glamorous for some. Sometimes feeling like drudgery as part of day to jobs (of course, certain roles single handedly focused on those tasks are absolutely vital to human progress). But it was dependable. It was how people earned their keep, stayed in the loop, proved their value. Strip it away, and you don’t just shrink a to-do list, you remove the scaffolding many careers were built on.

That’s where panic sets in. That’s where layoffs begin. But for others, it’s where something new unfolds.

Because once the old structures fall away, you start to see the opportunities thanks to AI: you don’t need permission anymore. You don’t need to climb a ladder someone else built. You can start building your own business.

And those falling structures give way to potentially the next generation of innovation for New Zealand's economy.

John-Daniel Trask from Autohive reminded me (enlightened me, maybe?) of this concept in our recent podcast.

It wasn’t a luxury. It was survival. If there was no work available, you made your own. You fixed things. Baked things. Taught things. You found a way to contribute and earn by solving a problem.

That mindset feels ancient. But AI makes it relevant again. The fear right now is that AI will take jobs and leave people behind. It’s why you hear so much about universal basic income as the backup plan. But JD flips the script: why default to UBI, when the same tech that replaces old work also enables new work?

You don’t need a team to build something. You don’t need capital. You don’t need to master operations, marketing, sales, and strategy.

You need a problem worth solving, the courage to begin, and a willingness to work alongside AI agents that do the heavy lifting behind the scenes. And here’s the thing: most people being displaced by AI already know their industry inside out. They’ve seen the inefficiencies and they know what’s broken.

This is the piece missing from most AI conversations. It’s not about corporates or collapse. It’s about mass entrepreneurship.

And global platforms like ChatGPT and Claude, and homegrown ones like Autohive aren’t only clever tech, they're the new operating system for work. They're the infrastructure for a world where a single Kiwi can compete on a global stage from their garage, their spare room, their local café. We can watch the gig-economy take flight in NZ.

New Zealand already has ~600,000 small / medium businesses. That's 97% of all companies in the country. They’re resilient, scrappy, but often underpowered.

AI changes that, giving individuals real leverage, enabling small teams to scale their activities.

The best part is that this isn't some economic theory, it's happening as we speak.

In my career I've never seen this many people intentionally exiting the workforce just to "learn / tinker / build" with AI. Some were made redundant. Others saw the writing on the wall. Many were looking to scratch the itch of curiosity.

More often than not, those individuals launch a business turning healthy revenue in a matter of months (and that's not just "in AI").

No one celebrates them, and the human cost is real.

But, what if this is the burning off before the bloom?

What if AI’s demolition of the old scaffolding is exactly what New Zealand needed, a circuit breaker that clears the way for a new generation of builders / doers / SMEs to shape the next economy?

No doubt there'll be reskilling requirements, NZ's Government will need to lean in, and other challenges will arise that we'd need to figure out.

But, this opportunity lets people finally create what they were always capable of. Just now without the gatekeepers, the red tape, or the need for permission.

AI changes access to innovation. It no longer trickles down from executives or institutions. It spreads out into garages, spare rooms, and side hustles.

Let a hundred SMEs bloom.