The world changed this month when Colossal Biosciences announced the Bluebuck as their sixth de-extinction target, following the successful reawakening of the Dire Wolf. With their first Woolly Mammoth calves projected to walk the earth by 2028, we are witnessing a “Biotech Renaissance” powered by the same “compute” that drives our AI.

But what does a resurrected mammoth have to do with your leadership team?

Everything. Read on!

The 4-Year Horizon: A New Biological Reality

Between now and 2030, the convergence of AI and Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats (CRISPR) technology (a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows scientists to precisely modify, delete, or insert DNA sequences in living organisms) will move from our screens into our ecosystems. As these “Colossus” scale AI clusters design new proteins and sequence ancient genomes, the complexity of the world is increasing exponentially.

In this next four-year window, the impact isn’t just “digital transformation”, it is environmental and structural transformation. We are moving toward a world where we don’t just manage data; we manage living, breathing eco-systems.

The Bottleneck: Hierarchy vs. The Networked Organization

The technologies bringing back the mammoth are not being developed in traditional, slow-moving hierarchies. They are the product of the Relational Networked Organization (see our Blog, link below), a model where expertise, data, and accountability are distributed across a global web of collaborators who choose to come together as part of the ecosystem. Choice is important in this model, people choose who to work for and what project they work on – aligned to their own values. i.e. they are discerning.

If your organization still relies on a top-down “command and control” structure, you might need to question if you are operating with an extinct mindset as these organisations emerge as the new home of the future employee. Especilly as the Relational Networked Organization may be the only structure capable of breathing alongside AI. Why? Because it allows for:

• Rapid Information Flow: Decisions made at the “edge” where the skill actually lives.
• Radical Transparency: A shared “Cosmic Map” of goals that eliminates the need for constant oversight, people “look up” towards a future they choose, not “lood down” and get stuck in the detail.
• Dynamic Resilience: The ability to pivot as fast, as in these latest biotech breakthroughs.
• Independence: People are not tied to one organisation and its culture, values and rules but to their potential for solving problems through their chosen relational network.

So what is the AI impact on the workforce?

According to Resourcera’s research, as of Q1 2026, the number of active AI users has surpassed 1.1 billion people globally. This represents roughly one in eight people, or nearly 20% of the world’s internet-connected population. And according to Microsoft there is theDiffusion Gap, a significant “AI Divide” that has emerged; Adoption in the Global North is at 27.5% (potentially also meaning a 72.5% non-adoption which could mean High-Potential or High-Entropy depending upon how this group are motivted), growing more than twice as fast as the Global South, which currently sits at 15.4%. That said, the apparent “Enterprise AI Adoption Curve” is currently one of the fastest in technological history, with 88% of organizations now using AI in at least one business function.

According to Deloitte, the most significant shift in early 2026 research is the move toward Agentic AI. Organizations are moving away from simple chatbots toward autonomous agents that can execute complex tasks (like managing a full recruitment cycle or a supply chain) without constant human prompting.

The big promise? While 66% of organizations report gains in productivity and efficiency, only 20% have yet successfully converted AI use into significant revenue growth—most are still in the “optimization” phase of their digital transformation or in other words still learning.

But there is no doubt that the world is changing fast, so what can you do?

Self-Accountability: The Human Survival Trait

People are adaptable. As the “System-Buster” units of the future take shape, the most valuable currency is Self-Accountability, a core theme of our work at Change Innovators through New World Leadership®. In a relationally networked world, nobody is coming to check your homework. You must be the “Navigator” of your own contribution and be accountable for that in every domain.

Within the New World Leadership® framework, we argue that AI readiness isn’t a technical skill—it’s an ontological shift of being. It’s about who you are being in the face of these changes. Are you a passive observer of the de-extinction era, or are you building the networked capacity in yourself, your organization and your eco-systems to lead through it?

Are You going Extinct or Evolving?

The mammoth is coming back. The question is: will your leadership model still be around to see it?

True Self-Accountability and AI Readiness requires a diagnostic of your culture, your accountability levels, and your structural agility.

Are you a 2030 ready Leader? Equiped for the major changes to come in the next 4 years? Take our fun diagnostic test in this months newsletter and see where you stand.

References

Change Innovators (2025) Blog: The Rise of the Voluntary Network: Beyond traditional organisations to a new future of relational working.

Colossal Biosciences. (2026). The Dodo and beyond: De-extinction challenges and the perception of utility. https://colossal.com/the-dodo-bird/ (Accessed: 11 May 2026)

Resourcera (2026) AI Statistics 2026: Market Size & Growth Trends (Global Data). Available at: https://resourcera.com/data/artificial-intelligence/ai-statistics/ (Accessed: 11 May 2026).

Microsoft (2026) The state of global AI diffusion in 2026. Available at: https://blogs.microsoft.com/on-the-issues/2026/05/07/the-state-of-global-ai-diffusion-in-2026/ (Accessed: 11 May 2026).

Microsoft (2026) 2026 Work Trend Index Annual Report: agents, human agency, and the opportunity for every organization. Redmond: Microsoft Corporation.

Deloitte (2026) The State of AI in the Enterprise: 2026 AI report. London: Deloitte Global. Available at: https://www.deloitte.com/uk/en/issues/generative-ai/state-of-ai-in-enterprise.html (Accessed: 11 May 2026)