The Competitive Advantage of Not Using Artificial Intelligence

Artificial intelligence is unlikely to provide organizations a long-term competitive advantage. However, there might be long-term benefits to be gained through the selective rejection of AI.

In their article “Why AI Will Not Provide Sustainable Competitive Advantage” in the Summer 2025 edition of MIT Sloan Management Review, David Wingate, Barclay Burns, and Jay Barney make a compelling argument that the ubiquity of artificial intelligence will keep it from being a source of long-term competitive advantage for organizations. Wingate et al. argue that in order for something to provide an organization a long-term competitive advantage, it must be something that other organizations cannot easily access. But just as was the case for personal computers, the internet, and so many other technologies, AI is too readily accessible to provide any one organization a long-term advantage over another. Artificial intelligence will undoubtedly transform how organizations work. However, it will likely not give any one organization a long-term advantage over its competitors.

While utilization of AI is unlikely to help organizations gain a competitive advantage, there is a competitive advantage to be found for a few organizations in selectively not using AI. The current situation with artificial intelligence, especially in regards to its use for activities that are traditionally done on a human-to-human basis with customers, is similar to that of common economic goods at the start of the Industrial Revolution. And just as some organizations were able to differentiate themselves from their competitors by continuing to make handmade goods during and after the Industrial Revolution, there is a competitive advantage to be had for those organizations that continue to provide human-to-human customer interactions through and after the coming AI revolution.

Before the Industrial Revolution of the late 1700s and early 1800s, most common economic goods were handmade by skilled craftsmen working in small local guilds. Driven by the new technologies of steam power and precision machining tools, the Industrial Revolution shifted the manufacture of common economic goods from small guilds to large factories. This change dramatically transformed how goods were made and significantly reduced demand for skilled craftsmen. However, it did not result in any organization gaining a long-term advantage over its competitors. The technologies driving the Industrial Revolution were too easily accessible for such an advantage to be achieved. However, some organizations gained long-term competitive advantages by not adopting all of the changes of the Industrial Revolution.

You would be hard-pressed to find an organization that did not change at all as a result of the Industrial Revolution. However, some organizations did maintain a significant amount of hand craftsmanship while their competitors switched to much more automated factory production methods. Many of these organizations are now positioned in the luxury segment of their markets and are able to charge substantial premiums over their competitors due to the exclusivity associated with owning skillfully created handcrafted items. These organizations – luxury watchmakers, handcrafted shoemakers, and bespoke clothiers – found their competitive advantage not through the adoption of the technologies of the Industrial Revolution, but through their rejection of such.

A similar opportunity now presents itself in regards to the use of artificial intelligence. AI will no doubt impact how almost all organizations operate in one way or another. But those organizations willing to reject its use in association with tasks that are currently done on a human-to-human basis with customers – tasks like standard customer service and issue resolution – may find themselves with a long-term competitive advantage over their competitors who choose to use AI for such tasks. For as more and more organizations undoubtedly turn to AI to provide these services, those organizations that do not may very well find themselves able to provide the luxury service of simple human-to-human interaction.