Speaker A
In this video, I'm going to make a case against AI, and more specifically, why more people are not making money despite using AI a lot and token maxing and vibe coding and making all these apps and all that stuff.
Alex Hormozi explains why AI alone won't make you rich in 2026, emphasizing the importance of leverage and business fundamentals.
Ask about this video. Answers come from its transcript only — with the timestamp, so you can check them.
Generated from the transcript and can be wrong — check the timestamp.
Key Takeaways
- AI is a tool that provides leverage but is not a standalone solution for business success.
- Understanding and addressing the true constraints of your business is more important than automating everything with AI.
- Combining multiple forms of leverage (capital, media, teams) is essential for growth.
- Prioritization and focusing on high-impact activities remain fundamental to making money.
- AI adoption should complement, not replace, core business strategies and fundamentals.
What the video covers
- AI introduces high leverage but does not cancel out other forms of leverage in business.
- Many people using AI are not seeing increased profits because AI is not the main business constraint.
- Leverage comes from multiple sources like capital, media, teams, and sales processes, not just AI.
- Using AI can increase capacity but may lead to focusing on lower priority tasks rather than high-impact activities.
- Successful businesses prioritize well and focus on the core drivers of revenue growth, regardless of AI use.
- AI tools like AI sales reps and ad creatives can help but are not a substitute for strong offers and good decision-making.
- Business fundamentals such as knowing the constraint and focusing resources effectively remain critical.
- Multiplicative leverage from combining capital, media, and teams still drives growth beyond AI.
- Not using AI can sometimes force better prioritization and focus on what truly moves the needle.
- The video challenges the misconception that AI is a magic solution for wealth creation.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction: The misconception about AI and leverage
- 00:29Explaining leverage and AI's role
- 01:25Real business examples and revenue growth
- 02:30AI usage among business owners and teams
- 03:50Multiple forms of leverage beyond AI
- 05:10Prioritization and focus over automation
- 06:28Tactics and practical advice for leveraging AI
- 07:30Conclusion: Fundamentals still drive success
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
stuff. And so, the big misconception, I think, around AI is that AI somehow canceled every other form of leverage.
Speaker A
And so, the big misconception, I think, around AI is that AI somehow canceled every other form of leverage.
Speaker A
then you put a lot in, you get a little bit out. So, that, you know, AI introduces high leverage, which is great.
Speaker A
And if you're new to the channel, leverage just means the difference in what you put in and what you get out. If you have a lot of leverage, you put a little bit in, you get a lot out. If you have low leverage,
Speaker A
And so, this whole misconception around like, "Oh, we must only use AI in order to succeed." Um taken differently, businesses right now who are using AI and individuals who are using AI and they're seeing their token bills go up
Speaker A
then you put a lot in, you get a little bit out. So, that, you know, AI introduces high leverage, which is great.
Speaker A
um but it's not because of AI. That's the thing. It's not because of AI. If AI didn't exist, we still would have had the increase. And so, it's not like a direct line there.
Speaker A
But, the thing is, there are a lot of things [snorts] that create leverage.
Speaker A
last week or two, and I I said, "Listen, I know you need to have public appearances." So, I said, "Of course, we're here. We're all super AI advocates because you have to do that." Um but, I said, "How much are you actually
Speaker A
And so, this whole misconception around like, "Oh, we must only use AI in order to succeed." Um, taken differently, businesses right now who are using AI and individuals who are using AI and they're seeing their token bills go up
Speaker A
course, our teams are using it." And then I'm bringing people in and we're training the team up and all that kind of stuff. And I was like, "But, you're not using it." And they're like, "No.
Speaker A
are somehow not making more money. And so, what I find kind of interesting is a couple things. So, number one, when I look at our business, we are, uh, we now have had another kind of step increase in our revenue,
Speaker A
Which is there are a lot of forms of leverage. And many forms of leverage are multiplicative. So, for example, capital still has tremendous leverage.
Speaker A
um, but it's not because of AI. That's the thing. It's not because of AI. If AI didn't exist, we still would have had the increase. And so, it's not like a direct line there.
Speaker A
erase that. Um and when you multiply some of these together, let's say you have capital and you have media and and maybe you have teams, right? People still create leverage for other people. Um I do find it ironic that like these the frontier
Speaker A
Um, the second kind of proof point that I think is more interesting around this, and I'll then I'll give you some tactics, um, is that I talked to a number of, uh, my wealthiest, oldest friends, uh, over the last week or two, and I I said, "Listen, I know you need to have public appearances."
Speaker A
I'm seeing so many business owners trying to AI-max and their because their capacity to work has increased using AI, they are now doing things they otherwise would not have done if they didn't have AI. But the thing is, those things that
Speaker A
So, I said, "Of course, we're here. We're all super AI advocates because you have to do that." Um, but, I said, "How much are you actually using AI every day?" And like, they kind of like look around and they're like, "Dude, I'm not using AI."
Speaker A
Great. Not great. It doesn't matter is my point. Um and so one of the interesting things about not having AI is that it forces you to prioritize better. It forces you to focus on the things that are going to
Speaker A
And I was like, "Well, your teams aren't." He's like, "Oh, yeah, of course, you know, of course, you know, they're like, "Of course, our teams are using it." And then I'm bringing people in and we're training the team up and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker A
know, way more ad creative, I think for sure is helpful from from an from an advertising perspective. Um we have an AI sales rep, which has been helpful. But the thing is it's like the AI sales rep is great, but like I also
Speaker A
And I was like, "But, you're not using it." And they're like, "No. No, I'm not." And I was like, "So, that's very interesting to me."
Speaker A
Like it's like it's it's more efficient, you know, and it scales, but it's it's typically not the limiter of the business. And this is my point is that the constraint of the business many business constraints at least to this at
Speaker A
And so, this is the thought that I I kind of want to challenge you with and then I'll leave some tactics at the end.
Speaker A
This is kind of like the crux of this, which is Let me give you some other examples of leverage that people are just not employing that you don't need any tech expertise to do. If you have a one-on-one business, you can go to
Speaker A
Which is there are a lot of forms of leverage. And many forms of leverage are multiplicative. So, for example, capital still has tremendous leverage.
Speaker A
you go from having scheduled appointments with clients to asynchronous appointments with clients, it's like that gives you a tremendous increase in leverage in terms of how many people you need from deliverable perspective. If you change your sales motion so that a higher percentage
Speaker A
[clears throat] AI coming in didn't somehow erase the leverage that capital uses. If you are in media and you make a video like this and thousands of people see it or millions of people see it, that is tremendous leverage, right? AI doesn't
Speaker A
fewer conversations and shorter conversations for your sales reps and they talk to more qualified customers, then as a result you can take what used to take 10 people and you can funnel to two. None of that uses AI. This is my
Speaker A
erase that. Um, and when you multiply some of these together, let's say you have capital and you have media and and maybe you have teams, right? People still create leverage for other people.
Speaker A
Um, I'm just seeing a lot of people using not making more money. That's kind of my point. And so it's this idea that we can throw away the fundamentals of business, but that's not true. Like you have to
Speaker A
Um, I do find it ironic that like these the frontier labs that have all this AI still have thousands of employees and so it's just like kind of interesting as a as a counterpoint of like, well, people are still being, you know, needed and useful.
Speaker A
If you don't know what the constraint of the business is, you just doing more automated does not make you more money.
Speaker A
Um, but the thought of it is this is that I'm seeing so many business owners trying to AI-max and their because their capacity to work has increased using AI, they are now doing things they otherwise would not have done if they didn't have AI.
Speaker A
Ready for it? Making good decisions. Think about it. If I If I have my whole team and I say, "Hey guys, we're actually not going to do this whole bunch of work over here because I don't think it's
Speaker A
But the thing is, those things that they otherwise wouldn't have done were lower priorities. And so now they're doing things that were less important faster and automated.
Speaker A
priority. That was good. That was pretty good. That is higher leverage. And so, I will get more out um of this resource that I have, my team, than if I just try and automate it and then create an output that is
Speaker A
Great. Not great. It doesn't matter is my point. Um, and so one of the interesting things about not having AI is that it forces you to prioritize better. It forces you to focus on the things that are going to
Speaker A
Um there's obviously use cases and we're, you know, I would say very early and very aggressive adopters of AI across the business. When I look at the business overall, the things that are growing are the things that have always grown in, right?
Speaker A
move the needle in the business. And I'm not seeing with an exclusion of like just a handful of exceptions, um, most AI use cases that I've seen, um, are not actually making the business a ton more money. I think that having, you
Speaker A
And right now, AI can help, but it's like having like access to a lot of It's actually, you know, it's actually probably a really good analogy. A lot of It's almost like access to a lot of virtual assistants. Like, third-world
Speaker A
know, way more ad creative, I think for sure is helpful from from an from an advertising perspective. Um, we have an AI sales rep, which has been helpful. But the thing is it's like the AI sales rep is great, but like I also
Speaker A
Which is that's always been there. And to be fair, I think virtual assistants right now sometimes are even cheaper than the AI token usage.
Speaker A
know how to build sales teams. So it's not like this You know what I'm saying?
Speaker A
offers. Like if you have a terrible offer, then AI on the back end is not going to help you. Now, you could say, "Well, I'm going to use AI to improve my offer." Maybe.
Speaker A
Like it's like it's it's more efficient, you know, and it scales, but it's it's typically not the limiter of the business. And this is my point is that the constraint of the business many business constraints at least to this at
Speaker A
Um and for most people, they're using it on things to be more distracted because they have more resources now. They are still making poor decisions about how to allocate those resources.
Speaker A
this point are not still as perfectly solvable with AI. And if they were, then everybody be making a ton more money.
Speaker A
wrong place. Which means that you need to return to the thing that matters most, which is identifying your true constraint. And then forcing all of your very limited, and I say that for myself included, all businesses compared to the resources
Speaker A
This is kind of like the crux of this, which is Let me give you some other examples of leverage that people are just not employing that you don't need any tech expertise to do. If you have a one-on-one business, you can go to
Speaker A
And so, we have that tiny speck and our ability to focus that tiny speck of resource on the one thing that's going to move the needle, our skill at being able to do that is the thing that will ultimately make
Speaker A
one-on, you know, one to one to many. It's like that would create a lot of leverage. Even one to small group. And so if you want one-on-one to one-on-10, you have 10x leverage. Like just like that with that one decision, right? If
Speaker A
So, anyways, that is my that is my two cents for the day. I hope you uh I hope you like my very impromptu style.
Speaker A
you go from having scheduled appointments with clients to asynchronous appointments with clients, it's like that gives you a tremendous increase in leverage in terms of how many people you need from deliverable perspective. If you change your sales motion so that a higher percentage
Speaker A
10 million and three businesses past 100 million into a completely free scaling road map that I've used to go from zero to one, zero to 10, and zero to 100 plus. And so, you can click here and you
Speaker A
people buy, uh, and so instead of needing 10 sales people, need two and they close the same amount because you've, you know, basically educated your prospects throughout the sales process more fully so they need less information to make decision, which means you have
Topics:AI leveragebusiness growthAlex HormoziAI in businessautomationsales strategybusiness fundamentalsprioritizationcapital leveragemedia leverage
