AI exposed how under-resourced my ambition was, not that I have too many people

Summary

Product leader at Revolut argues that AI has not reduced hiring pressure in his team; instead it has surfaced that previous ambitions were constrained by lack of talent, not by lack of work. Rather than shrinking teams, AI has multiplied the capacity of strong performers by 3–5x, which means the constraint has shifted from "do we have work to keep teams busy" to "do we have enough strong product owners to pursue new opportunities". At Revolut, this shifted the hiring stance from defensive to aggressive. Read the full thread.

Key Claims

• In regulated businesses, AI accelerates compliance and requirements work (PRD prep, regulatory research) more than it eliminates jobs, because governance review remains non-negotiable.
• The constraint in Bashlykov's teams shifted from workload to talent: AI capacity freed up the ability to pursue new bets, so with one more strong product owner he would start two new initiatives immediately.
• Top talent operating at 3–5x capacity makes previous ambitions suddenly feasible, which overturns the narrative that AI shrinks teams and instead drives hiring.

Quotes

• "It didn't reduce my need for people. It exposed how badly under-resourced my ambition was."
• "The constraint was never 'do we have enough work to keep teams busy' — it was always 'do we have enough strong POs to point at the next opportunity.'"
• "Anyone selling you 'AI replaces compliance review' is selling you a future lawsuit."