Piers Linney has always been ahead of the curve. A former venture capital lawyer and M&A banker turned entrepreneur, investor and Dragons’ Den panellist, he has built his career on spotting trends before they become mainstream.
His ventures have spanned cloud computing, AI innovation and leadership, and today, through Implement AI, the company he co-founded, he helps businesses prepare for the new reality of artificial intelligence.
For Linney, the phrase “AI-first” is more than a buzzword. He describes it as part of a continuum that stretches back centuries, when humans were always “first”, using tools to support them but ultimately doing the hard cognitive work themselves. That balance, he argues, is shifting. With the advent of large language models and diffusion models, AI is starting to take the lead role, transforming the way we interact with technology.
“We’ve entered an era of AI-assisted work, where employees and organisations can be supercharged in their productivity,” he says. “Unlike the move to cloud computing, which gave companies years to adapt, this wave of change is happening almost overnight. If you wait, you won’t be disrupted by AI itself – you’ll be disrupted by rivals who know how to use it.”
One of the biggest debates surrounding AI is the question of bias. Because the models are trained on human content, from across the internet and social media, they inevitably carry some of our own prejudices. Linney acknowledges the challenge but sees AI as part of the solution rather than the problem.
“Bias is real, and it’s inherited from the data,” he admits. “But unconscious bias is also a huge factor in human decision-making, particularly in recruitment. Carefully designed AI systems can strip away those prejudices and make choices based on objective data. Over time, AI will evolve into what I call a ‘ruthless optimiser’, making decisions that are more data-driven, transparent and less prone to human flaws.”
Yet AI is not only a tool for innovation. It is also being seized upon by criminals. Linney, who recently addressed a global cybersecurity firm, is clear that the threat is growing more sophisticated by the day.
“We’re moving beyond AI-designed malware to a point where the malware itself is AI,” he warns. “It can adapt, hide and pursue its own objectives autonomously. That raises the stakes dramatically. It’s not the science-fiction scenario of humanoid robots we need to worry about, but AI-enabled cybercrime destabilising economies, draining people’s finances and even targeting governments. The cybersecurity arms race is only just beginning.”
If businesses are to harness the opportunities of AI while guarding against its risks, Linney believes leadership must start with clear governance. Every company, regardless of sector, needs an AI policy — but, he stresses, it cannot sit in isolation.
“AI has to run through the business, touching HR, training, compliance and data security,” he explains. “Industries like healthcare and finance will face stricter rules, but every sector needs boundaries for how staff use AI, how data is managed, and how risks are controlled. The missing piece is training. Research shows that almost a third of employees are already using AI at work without their employer knowing — what we call ‘Shadow AI’. That’s a risk, but with the right framework it’s an enormous opportunity.”
From his vantage point, AI is not a distant future but an immediate revolution. Companies that act decisively will, in his words, be “supercharged” — those that don’t may find themselves overtaken by competitors who understood the AI advantage early.
