Why LinkedIn Believes AI Will Turn Workers Into Founders

As workers worry that AI will automate their jobs away, LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky and Aneesh Raman argue something different: AI is about to make entrepreneurship far more accessible. That’s the thesis of Open to Work: How to Get Ahead in the Age of AI, LinkedIn’s first book, released Tuesday. Co‑authored by Roslansky and Raman, the book lays out how AI can strip away many of the traditional barriers to starting a business—capital, gatekeepers, specialized expertise—and replace them with tools that let individuals build, test, and scale ideas on their own terms. Drawing on founder case studies and research from MIT Sloan senior lecturer Paul Cheek, the book frames AI not as a threat to work, but as an accelerant for self‑employment and ownership. Raman’s own career mirrors that premise. His path—from CNN correspondent to presidential speechwriter to LinkedIn executive—wasn’t linear, but it was intentional. Each role, he says, was a way to expand impact and adapt as opportunity shifted. In Open to Work, Raman connects that mindset to the moment founders now face in a labor market where titles matter less than skills, and where AI can help individuals turn experience into businesses faster than ever before. LinkedIn has invested heavily in AI tools for both its workforce and users. In 2023, AI-powered writing suggestions were launched to help users update their profiles. The following year, the tech was updated to create resumes and cover letters tailored to specific job listings on the platform—which grew even more tailored to individuals in 2025. A LinkedIn spokesperson says more than 38 million people use the platform’s AI-powered job search every week. Book Preview: Across the Industrial Revolutions, new forms of energy emerged, from steam to electricity. Those new forms of energy supported new forms of technology, from the assembly line to the internet. And with those new forms of technology, economic growth all over the world has increasingly come from one thing above all else: the ability to produce more goods and services, faster and cheaper. As a result, our economies started prizing skills that would support efficiency at scale the most, especially analytical and technical skills. As humans at work, our value was measured by how effectively we could support technology executing more, better, faster. A few of us did work that involved innovating and thinking creatively but, for the most part, even that work was about creating new goods and services that helped consumers and businesses do more, better, faster. Today we’re all mostly manning assembly lines, operating registers, driving tractors, building spreadsheets, writing code, managing meetings, and responding to emails. So. Many. Emails. In every case, across so many of our jobs, our value has been tied to our ability to help organizations achieve that same goal: more output, better quality, faster delivery. Then came AI. Suddenly, so much of what we’ve trained ourselves to do, so much of what our economy has valued most, AI started to do. And it started to do it more efficiently than we ever could, becoming better by the day at precisely the kind of technical and analytical capabilities our economies currently prize above all else. Of course we’re worried. But that fear misses something crucial: Our competitive edge as a species was never our capacity for processing and producing more, better, faster in the first place. As AI starts to handle the “more, better, faster” work that has consumed so much of our time and energy, we will finally have the opportunity to reclaim the work that only we can do. Work that is based on what makes us uniquely human. Learn what AI can do, and what only you can: AI is changing the way we work, but it doesn’t replace the strengths that set people apart. When you understand where technology can amplify your impact — and where your judgment, empathy, and creativity shine — you unlock real momentum in your career. Build human capabilities that outlast every tech shift: Skills like curiosity, creativity, communication, compassion, and courage never go out of style. As tools evolve, these abilities become even more valuable. Strengthening them now puts you in control, no matter how fast work transforms. Turn insight into action with a clear plan for what’s next: The future doesn’t have to feel abstract. You can redesign how you work, how your team collaborates, and how your company culture adapts. Start with a simple, practical 30-60-90 day plan to help you move with confidence. BY KAYLA WEBSTER