--- title: "Humans vs AI: 1-0" description: Using AI can be useful when scaling, but the major issues will still be caused AND solved by humans image: https://esul.org/hubfs/LI%20blog%201a%281%29.png --- [![European Scale Up Leaders](https://esul.org/hs-fs/hubfs/esul-logo-visionary-black.png?width=820&height=163&name=esul-logo-visionary-black.png "European Scale Up Leaders")](https://esul.org/) [![Structured Growth](https://esul.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo_ESUL_beeldmerk_ScaleUpFlame-1.png?width=816&height=576&name=Logo_ESUL_beeldmerk_ScaleUpFlame-1.png "Structured Growth")](https://esul.org/) [![Structured Growth](https://esul.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo_ESUL_beeldmerk_ScaleUpFlame-1.png?width=816&height=576&name=Logo_ESUL_beeldmerk_ScaleUpFlame-1.png "Structured Growth")](https://esul.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. - [BOB](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob) - [Founder](https://esul.org/en/niels-hardam-founder) - [Book](https://esul.org/en/book) - [Insights](https://esul.org/blog) - [Contact](https://esul.org/contact) - [Join early access](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob#signup) - [BOB](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob) - [Founder](https://esul.org/en/niels-hardam-founder) - [Book](https://esul.org/en/book) - [Insights](https://esul.org/blog) - [Contact](https://esul.org/contact) - [Join early access](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob#signup) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # Humans vs AI: 1-0 by [Niels Hardam](https://esul.org/blog/author/niels-hardam) | Jun 12, 2026 - - - - The excellent TechRadar published an article by Duleepa "Dups" Wijayawardhana that appeared to go all-out on the 'AI will revolutionize everything' craze that's going round.  Luckily, Duleepa went a step further and came up with a pithy, insightful overview of AI-infused trends that influence the process of scaling up.  Personally, we were most pleased with this insight, that's at the core of how we work at European Scale Up Leaders: "The majority of scaling failures I have seen were human. Clarity of communication. Empathy between teams. Leaders who stayed close enough to understand what their people actually did, and hired people who could extend that understanding upwards and outwards." All the tech in the world will not change these basic aspects of building and growing a company. It's just innate in any project by, with, and for humans. You can read the full TechRadar article here:  [https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-scale-up-playbook-is-broken-heres-what-replaces-it](https://www.techradar.com/pro/the-scale-up-playbook-is-broken-heres-what-replaces-it) --- **Growing your team?** Meet BOB, our first AI team member. He helps your recruiters qualify applicants, and your recruiter always decides. [Meet BOB →](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob) #### About the author Niels Hardam [Follow me on my website](https://esul.org/blog/www.esul.org) [Follow me on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielshardam/) Niels Hardam is the founder of European Scale Up Leaders, where we build AI team members for scaling companies, starting with BOB. Co-founder of Advanced Forces Group, author of 'De Scale-Up Mindset' and former officer in the Netherlands Marine Corps. Topics:   [communication](https://esul.org/blog/tag/communication) ,   [data](https://esul.org/blog/tag/data) ,   [team](https://esul.org/blog/tag/team) Recent posts [Don't let responsibility swim upstream](https://esul.org/blog/dont-let-responsibility-swim-upstream) [Humans vs AI: 1-0](https://esul.org/blog/humans-vs-ai-1-0) [When Will Customer-Focus Hurt You?](https://esul.org/blog/when-will-customer-focus-hurt-you) [A Learning Organization of One](https://esul.org/blog/a-learning-organization-of-one) [The Basics of Finance for Scale-Ups](https://esul.org/blog/the-basics-of-finance-for-scale-ups) [![Logo\_ESUL\_uitgeschreven\_FoundersWhite-1](https://esul.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo_ESUL_uitgeschreven_FoundersWhite-1.png?width=250&height=47&name=Logo_ESUL_uitgeschreven_FoundersWhite-1.png "Logo_ESUL_uitgeschreven_FoundersWhite-1")](https://esul.org/) [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/nielshardam/) [BOB](https://esul.org/sign-up-for-bob) [Founder](https://esul.org/en/niels-hardam-founder) [Book: De Scale-up Mindset](https://esul.org/en/book) [Insights](https://esul.org/blog) [Contact](https://esul.org/contact) Get in touch with us! 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