#98 - The Rise of the AI Native Employee | Thomas Bustos

Feb 18, 2026

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What is an AI Native employee?

It’s not someone who occasionally uses ChatGPT.

It’s not someone who automates a few workflows.

It’s someone who integrates AI into how they think, decide, and operate.

In this episode, Thomas Bustos explores the rise of the AI Native employee—not as a job title, but as a new operating standard. Before AI, employees manually summarized, synthesized, reported, and shared knowledge. Decision-making required slow coordination. Context was fragmented.

Now, the AI Native shift is changing how organizations think, decide, and execute.

The AI Native employee defines what great looks like.

They set constraints.

They design systems.

They use AI to enhance clarity, not to outsource thinking.

Thomas Bustos breaks down why companies that fail to build AI Native systems will struggle with accountability, context gaps, and slow decision loops. And why the real competitive advantage is how employees integrate AI into learning velocity and decision quality.

This episode is a blueprint for leaders who want to move from AI curiosity to AI Native execution.

Top Takeaways:

If your company is just getting seats for people to ask things to ChatGPT, you definitely need to change something.
Create accountability and a motion of learning velocity.
The more connected your context system is, the better decisions can be made.
The quality of decisions depends on how much reality your team can see.
Software is going to zero, meaning the cost of building solutions is decreasing.
The jobs are not going anywhere; they are evolving with technology.
If you can generate more impact, you are more valuable.
Creating systems that enhance learning and context is crucial for growth.
This is why we're playing this game: to continuously learn and adapt.

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