AI is exposing errors and accelerating the breakdown of long-standing institutions, and it is also shaping whatever comes next.
It is a sign of the times.
AI is unfolding in the midst of what The Fourth Turning describes as a decisive period of crisis. Author Neil Howe and William Strauss write:
“The Fourth Turning is a Crisis, a decisive era of secular upheaval, when the values regime propels the replacement of the old civic order with a new one.”
In this context, the values regime propelling AI’s growth is more than just technological ideals; they are survival traits in a system undergoing creative destruction. Each value driving AI reflects the pressures, competitions, and opportunities of a world reorganizing itself for the next era.
The values regime I am talking about is not simply the values of the technocratic elite. I am talking about values that must be embodied for the sake of survival through adaptability. AI can be used for better or for worse, domination or decentralized freedom, and right now, institutions and their leaders are racing to adapt to AI’s implications.
That implication is widespread forced dismantling of institutions. It happens during crises. It happens through technological advancement. And it happens simply as the underlying feature of capitalism. Systemic collapse is happening everywhere—especially to our institutions.
Strauss and Howe write, “Fourth Turnings function as periods of ‘creative destruction’ for social and political institutions.”
One important emphasis I want to make is that the institutional breakdown and renewal which occurs in a Fourth Turning is not the typical “progress” narrative we are used to, even though that’s what we hear in the news. We see the videos, the chatbots, and the ability of the Large Language Model (LLM) to retrieve, organize, and provide an output, but what we don’t recognize is the bigger context containing all this change. That context is the Fourth Turning.
The Traditional Corporate Structure is Broken
Over the past 100 years, the corporate structure has been built through centralization, top-down hierarchies, clear divisions of labor, and formal policies and procedures. The best place to see how companies act internally is through their hiring processes.
In the past decade, the tech industry introduced new ways of working together—like lean entrepreneurship instead of top-down processes, and flat hierarchies for faster innovation and product development.
Then, to attract new talent, companies started implementing these ideas and sentiments into their culture: open office spaces without cubicles, free snacks, and drinks on Friday with the bosses around the foosball table.
Now AI is democratizing this same process for individuals while companies attempt to adapt. The results are nothing short of a clown-world report. AI is doing nothing but amplifying the power of the masses to produce AI slop.
Imagine receiving 2,000 applicants for one job posting, with 1,800 of them having produced similar cover letters using the same AI tools.
Ironically, one way corporations are adapting to the breakdown of their centralized, top-down recruiting is by adding another layer of AI filtering—using more AI. After they receive their horde of applications, they push applicants through a factory-style AI video recruiter. See how weird this feels, below.
Here’s how Mark Zuckerberg is applying the Fourth Turning’s new value regime to personally recruit the best AI talent. When top-down methods to develop his latest AI project over-promised and under-delivered, he did this…
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