Dell CEO tells us how AI can make us “more effective as a species” - “there are a lot of things we don’t do, that we used to do, because we now have the tools”

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The CEO of Dell Technologies has told TechRadar Pro that AI offers a great opportunity for organizations to re-evaluate themselves to positive effect

Speaking at a media Q&A session at Dell Technologies World 2025, Michael Dell looked to reassure us that AI will never fully replace human workers, and in fact may offer them a whole new outlook.

In a wide-ranging discussion, Dell also laid out his views on political instability affecting the technology industry, and some of his key leadership principles.

"Always some change"

“The way I think about this is that if you look at every progress, that’s for any technology, you always have some change that goes on,” Dell said in response to our question about AI affecting or even replacing human workers.

“My way of thinking is there’s probably a 10 percent effect for that - but I think 90 percent of that is actually growth and expansion and opportunity, and ultimately what I think you’re going to see is more opportunities, more economic growth.”

“There are a lot of things that we don’t do, that we used to do, because we have the tools, and we’re more effective as a species because of that - (using AI) is just another example of that.”

“One of the keys beyond productivity and efficiency I think for organizations, is to reimagine themselves, and say, alright, what is the trajectory of these capabilities, where is it going, and what should our activity look like in three years, five years time, given this capability.”

“You know, a lot of roles today just didn’t exist 10, 20, 30 years ago - and no-one was forecasting that.”

Having spoken with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang in his opening keynote, Dell was also asked if the two shared any overarching leadership principles.

“I think anytime there’s a new technology, you have to leap ahead (and think), what is the likely impact of this, and how do we need to change? And if we don’t have a passion around that, or there isn’t a crisis in your organization - make one! We think it can make us a better company.”

Dell was also asked about how changing global economic and political situations might affect the company’s future outlook

“We agree that those are issues and challenges,” he said, “in my general view, the importance of this technology is greater than all those problems - and I heard somebody say recently, tokens are bigger than tariffs - and that would sort of summarize our view of it.”

“Are all those things helpful to our business? No, they’re not - but there’s a limit of what we can do about that, right? We can certainly do the things we’re supposed to do, and focus on the things we can control - we’re seeing plenty of companies that are dealing with all those challenges just as we are, and powering ahead in any case.”

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