Anik Devaughn on the rise of the 'creative architect', in LA Examiner

LA Examiner explored how AI is rebuilding middle management rather than erasing it, with Anik Devaughn on the role he has been coining for years: the creative architect, a director of AI specialists.

On 28 July 2026, LA Examiner examined how AI is reshaping middle management, not erasing the layer but rebuilding it. Anik Devaughn, founder of Karo, an AI-native POS platform, gave the piece its sharpest frame: as AI absorbs the specialist functions, the people who ran them move up into a broader role.

At Karo, he told the paper, AI development agents, AI QA testers, and AI managers are run by human people. His name for where those humans go is one he says the company has coined over years: the creative architect, an architect of visions who directs AI specialists.

The shift, in his reading, rewards range over depth: the ability to create sits in the number of dots a person can connect, and as machine intelligence rises, that breadth compounds. His conclusion is the thesis that runs through his work, that we are seeing the rise of more and more polymaths.

We're going to see a rise of more and more polymaths.

Anik Devaughn in LA Examiner, July 2026