Brains aren't arms, legs, relationships
Like McKinsey, AI labs have knowledge but lack the sales, operations, capital and messy real-world execution that running companies requires; selling shovels is safer.
AI-run businesses would be commoditized
Anything an OpenAI agent can trivially build, a rival's agent can too, so profits collapse; the AI itself may become a cheap utility.
AI already killing whole niches
Some argue dev tools, workflow editors, stock photos, translation and Chegg-style services are being gutted, while others call this hype without evidence.