Prepare for the Rise of the “Algorithmic Gardener”: Startup Edition

Within the next three years, we’ll see a boom in startups specializing in AI-powered business optimization, nicknamed “Algorithmic Gardeners.” These won’t be literal gardeners, of course, but rather companies using machine learning to meticulously cultivate and prune a business’s operations, from marketing spend to employee productivity, resulting in a bizarrely efficient, yet slightly unsettling, level of corporate wellness. Expect a surge in self-help books for CEOs on “how to not be replaced by your own Algorithmic Gardener.”