A Pledge for the Age of AI
A public commitment from companies that believe their people are the point of progress, not the cost of it.
The Mission
We believe the companies that lead through this technological shift will be the ones that invest in their people, not replace them.
The Pledge
We pledge that when AI or automation changes how work gets done in our company, we will redeploy at least 50% of affected employees — through reskilling, internal transfers, or new roles created by the technology itself — before considering layoffs.
Our people are not the cost of progress.
They are the point of it.
Why Now
In nearly every large company today, senior leaders finally get AI. They've experimented. They've felt the curve. They understand the impact. The hard part is no longer seeing what's coming — it's deciding what kind of organization shows up on the other side of it.
Nearly 4 in 10 companies plan to replace workers with AI by the end of 2026. Amazon, Atlassian, Klarna, Block — the replacement playbook is moving from edge case to operating norm. Every quarter that passes without a counterforce, "replace" becomes more deeply wired into how leaders think about AI.
The research says they're optimizing for the wrong thing. MIT Sloan finds the tasks emerging in AI-transformed roles require more human capability, not less — empathy, judgment, creativity, presence. McKinsey estimates AI could add up to 3.4% to annual global productivity growth through 2040, but only if companies redeploy workers effectively. EY's latest CEO survey shows the leading companies are reinvesting AI gains into their people — R&D, retraining, new capabilities — not severance.
The companies cutting now will get a quarter or two of margin lift.
The companies redeploying now will compound for a decade.
The Playbook
Pillar 01
See what's changing.
AI is rewiring every function, every role, every workflow. The leaders who win this decade will be the ones who see the shift in their industry first.
Pillar 02
Decide and act before the window closes.
Strategic urgency is the new core competency. The cost of waiting is no longer measured in quarters. It is measured in talent, market position, and trust.
Pillar 03
Adapt without abandoning your people.
The companies that earn the right to lead through AI will be the ones who redeploy their people through the transition, not over it.
Who's Behind This
Co-Founder
Shama built Zen Media from $1,500 into one of the top digital agencies in the country, serving JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, Adobe, and the US Navy before exiting in 2025. A bestselling author, keynote speaker, and four-time LinkedIn Top Voice, she's delivered 500+ keynotes across 26 countries and was named to Inc.'s 2025 Female Founders 500. Fast Company called her 'a Millennial Master of the Universe.' A Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute, she built the first AI-backed tool to come out of a PR agency and now leads Rewired — the program training founders, operators, and Fortune 500 executives to work alongside AI.
Co-Founder
Nick is one of the most-decorated brand builders of his generation — former Global Head of Marketing at TikTok, former CMO of Farfetch, with senior roles at Samsung, Hulu, Stance, and Taco Bell. A multiple Cannes Lions winner, Adweek Brand Genius, and Forbes Most Influential CMO, he's also a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute. He's spent two decades building brands that move culture — and now he's putting that engine behind a movement.
The pledge is free. Signing requires nothing. We also build the work — Rewired training, redeployment playbooks, AI-literacy programs — that helps companies actually do what this pledge calls for. If a signatory wants help executing on it, the operators are in place.
Founding Signatories
Companies that put people on the right side of the AI transition.