There’s a concept called the Pareto Principle, which originated with the curious Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto in the late 1800s. Pareto was studying wealth distribution in Italy when he noticed something strange: no matter which region he examined, about 20% of the people owned 80% of the land.

Then he looked elsewhere – income, property, even the size of pea pods in his garden – and the pattern kept repeating. Pareto had stumbled onto a principle that quietly governs everything from economics to nature to human behavior.

Economists, mathematicians and sociologists spent the next century testing Pareto’s observation, and they kept discovering the same thing: The world runs on unequal contributions. The pattern shows up everywhere – in business, biology, creative work, city populations, book sales, and even scientific citations.

In sales organizations, 20% of the salespeople generate 80% of the revenue. In customer service, 20% of customers account for 80% of the complaints.

In software, 20% of users cause 80% of the server load. In computing, 20% of bugs cause 80% of the crashes.

Even in your own closet, you probably wear 20% of your clothes 80% of the time.

Some look at the rise of artificial intelligence and argue that the old 80/20 rule might be dying – that humanity is shifting toward something sharper, closer to 90/10 or even 95/5.

Their argument is simple: AI doesn’t just accelerate productivity – it accelerates concentration.

If the old pattern was 20% of businesses capturing 80% of the revenue, the new pattern could be 10% capturing 90% … or 5% capturing nearly everything.

And if that’s true for companies, it’s even more dramatic for individuals. We’re already seeing hints of this shift. Elon Musk was recently granted a compensation package worth up to $1 trillion – one person potentially making 1/15th of America’s entire GDP.

The CEO who can act as the marketer, the lawyer, the programmer and the creative team all at once isn’t just more “productive” – they’re operating on an entirely different curve. What once demanded entire departments now takes a handful of people … or even one.

That’s why some believe the Pareto Principle is vanishing. Because the tools of AI let a tiny number of people produce a towering share of the output.

Here’s the twist: AI doesn’t eliminate Pareto at all – it proves it. The rule still holds: A minority always produces the majority. The difference now is that AI is tightening the curve.

The pattern is the same, but the slope is steeper.

When one person can perform the work of an entire floor – the marketing team, the legal team, the development team, the creative team – the system naturally tilts toward those who adopt early.

A marketer can now create and test what once took a full department. A small business owner can offer 24/7 service without hiring. A writer or designer can generate ten times more ideas without losing their creative fingerprint. A CEO can understand their entire company with the clarity that once required an army of analysts.

And yes, that can sound intimidating. But here’s what almost no one says: AI doesn’t just tighten the Pareto curve – it opens the door for you to move into the top tier.

For the first time in history, the tools of extraordinary productivity aren’t locked inside corporations, universities or government labs. They’re on your phone. They’re on your laptop. They’re on your desk right now, waiting for you to say, “Show me what’s possible.”

You no longer need permission from gatekeepers or institutions. With the right tools, one person can reach customers, readers or supporters across the world in minutes.

The truth is, not everyone will cross that threshold.

But the good news is that the old Pareto Principle could feel unfair because it was built on advantages you couldn’t always access.

With AI, the 20% isn’t a club you’re born into – it’s a door you can walk through. If you’re willing to step up, the slope is steep — but the path is wide open, and it starts right where you are.

• Toby Moore is a Shaw Local News Network columnist, star of the Emmy-nominated film “A Separate Peace,” and CEO of CubeStream Inc. He can be reached at feedback@shawmedia.com.