---
id: "quote-amplify-human-potential"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ Reinforce the complementary relationship with AI."]
tags: ["workforce", "framing"]
related: ["concept-human-ai-complementarity"]
quote: "Entrepreneurs should frame AI adoption not as a threat, but as a way to amplify human potential."
speaker: "Jeffrey P. Shay, Donna Kelley, Mahdi Majbouri and Thomas H. Davenport"
speakers: ["Jeffrey P. Shay", "Donna Kelley", "Mahdi Majbouri", "Thomas H. Davenport"]
sources: ["spine"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-spine"
originDay: 1
articleStem: "hbr-ext-20-entrepreneurs-scale-with-ai"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2025/08/how-ambitious-entrepreneurs-can-use-ai-to-scale-their-startups"
sourceTitle: "How Ambitious Entrepreneurs Can Use AI to Scale Their Startups"
---
# AI as an Amplifier of Human Potential

> Entrepreneurs should frame AI adoption not as a threat, but as a way to amplify human potential.

— [[entity-jeffrey-p-shay]], [[entity-donna-kelley]], [[entity-mahdi-majbouri]], and [[entity-thomas-h-davenport]]

The framing directive behind [[concept-human-ai-complementarity]] and [[action-shift-to-creative-roles]]: position AI as augmentation, not substitution — the antidote to the 72% employee-resistance concern (see [[claim-ai-apprehension-metrics]]). A counter-perspective cautions this framing can understate genuine displacement risk.