Copilot to autopilot

Sequoia’s framing of where AI is heading has two stages. Copilot: the model sits beside the human, suggesting, drafting, assisting, and the human stays on every task. Autopilot: the model takes the controls on whole tasks and reports back. Most account teams are in the first stage and assume the second is a technology question, about when the models get good enough.

It is not. The line between the two is drawn, revealingly, by judgement. Procedural work, the research pack, the meeting summary, the first draft, moves to autopilot early and safely. Judgement-heavy work, the proposition, the negotiation, the read on whether a sponsor is wavering, stays with the human for as long as being wrong is expensive. The question for a KAM is not whether to hand over the controls but which tasks, and the five ages are the longer version of the same answer.