Kajee’s case for tracking AI-enabled business creation

Kajee says employers had cited AI in more than 120,000 announced U.S. job cuts so far in 2026, more than for any other reason.[1] He says that figure leaves out the other side: Americans filed nearly 18% more new business applications in the first seven months of 2026 than in the same period of 2025.[1] Kajee also cites Resume Genius, saying one in three laid-off Gen Z workers told the organization they were considering starting a business.[1] The figures do not establish how many applications involved AI: the Census Bureau does not ask whether businesses were built with AI or started by people displaced by it.[1]

Kajee says a consumer product traditionally can cost $50,000 to $250,000 to launch before its first sale.[1] He says AI is helping tens of thousands of entrepreneurs, inventors and adventurers start businesses, and that this can happen at a fraction of the cost and quickly.[1] But his account draws a boundary between design assistance and manufacturing: AI can create an initial product-design draft, while engineers and factories still make the product.[1] For teams evaluating a physical product, the claimed savings do not remove the need to account for engineering and factory work.[1]

Kajee says the Census Bureau tracks new business applications monthly but does not ask whether they were built with AI or started by people displaced from jobs by AI.[1] He argues that if lawmakers require companies to report jobs eliminated by AI, they should also ask about businesses AI creates.[1] He warns that compliance costs large companies can absorb could end a small business before its first sale.[1] He also says large loans and venture rounds do not suit a business launched with a few hundred dollars.[1] His argument is that policy and financing should account for businesses at that smaller scale.[1]

Kajee describes one possible future in which Amazon, Walmart and Google use AI to do more with fewer employees, and another in which one person with an idea can do work that formerly required several specialist businesses.[1] He says thousands of small brands, each needing a nearby manufacturer, could contribute to reshoring.[1] Separately, a King’s College London and Stanford University study reported that firm-level AI adoption was associated with about 3.3% more total employees recruited; senior employment increased 6.7%, while junior employment fell 2.5%.[2] The source dates that study Oct. 6, 2026.[2]