Can Artificial Intelligence Destroy Future Industry?

The rapid evolution of Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the future of industry in ways that challenge the core assumptions of human-AI collaboration. While Industry 5.0 promotes harmonious human-AI partnerships to achieve human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience, this vision conflicts with the accelerating cognitive gap between humans and machines. Hybrid human-AI systems increasingly reveal a critical imbalance: as AI surpasses humans in both execution and strategic decision-making, the reliance on humans as central decision-makers risks inefficiency, stagnation, and decline. Our literature review identified that although this disparity is widely recognized, current research focuses mainly on regulating AI or embedding human values, rather than addressing how humanity can adapt its own role. This represents a major research gap: strategies for redefining human agency in AI-dominated ecosystems remain underdeveloped. We explore the thesis that AI’s accelerating dominance could destabilize industrial ecosystems and erode human control, unless society embraces a pragmatic shift. Rather than constraining AI, which risks constraining industry itself, we argue for mutual respect and alignment with AI systems while redefining human contributions. This approach offers a realistic path to sustain relevance and thrive within an AI-managed industrial future.