Rich Ziade
Co-founder and CEO of Aboard, a software company, and a serial software entrepreneur who started his career in law.
“I am an unapologetic capitalist, but I've learned one thing working my whole life: value creation is just a component of work. Work is a form of expression. Work is a form of social connection. … Work creates culture just as much as art creates culture. … Just because you automated away something that I do, you're taking away many, many other things from me.”
The Aboard Podcast · AI Builders · November 2026
Context
Responding to the idea that automation only removes tasks, Ziade argues that people are upset because AI takes away more than jobs.
Transcript
Yeah. I'm going to get philosophical for a second.
Oh, good. Just use your normal voice.
I am an unapologetic capitalist, but I've learned one thing working my whole life and working with many people my whole life. And that value creation is just a component of work. That work is a form of expression. Work is a form of social connection. It is how so much of culture is born out of work, not just. Out of arts and whatnot. Like work creates culture just as much as art creates culture. And I think we're emotional beings and social beings. And just because you automated away something that I do, you're taking away many, many other things from me. And I think that's what we're grappling with in a lot of ways.
This is not my interview, but I'm just going to say the thing that always sticks out when we talk about this, and I think it's really good for everybody to remember. The highest form of expression for the Valley is not a product, it is a marketplace, right? Like for them, if you can build a…
pretty house. Someone needed a place to stay. Just give me 8%. Or here
are the wonderful search results on top of the beautiful open web and we're going to put some ads in there. And now that is true. And you're getting something too. That's right.
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