Will AI Make My Job Redundant?
By Michael Tessler, Managing Partner at True North Advisory
The question of whether AI will make our jobs obsolete is a common fear among professionals across industries. However, this concern, while understandable, overlooks the potential of AI as a tool for enhancing productivity rather than simply cutting costs. Here are some ways that organizations can approach this.
When consulting with companies on their AI strategies, I emphasize the importance of viewing AI as a productivity booster, not just a cost-saver. Consider a 1,000-person organization: a 10% increase in productivity via AI could effectively add the output of 100 additional employees. This perspective shifts the narrative from job loss to enhanced capacity and efficiency.
On a personal level, the threat of redundancy can be mitigated by actively engaging with AI as part of our career management. Here’s a practical approach to stay ahead in your career:
Task Analysis: Break down your job into individual tasks and evaluate which ones could currently be automated by AI, which might be automated in the next 2-3 years, and which might be affected in 5-10 years. This ongoing exercise not only keeps you informed about AI advancements but also helps you regain control over your professional destiny.
Skill Development: With an understanding of how AI might transform your role, identify skills you can develop to stay ahead. For instance, if you're in marketing, learning about AI-driven analytics tools could make you indispensable for interpreting and leveraging customer data.
Engage with New Technologies: Continuously explore and experiment with the latest AI tools. This hands-on experience will not only enhance your adaptability but also your ability to innovate within your role.
If your job consists mainly of tasks that are predictable and repeatable, the urgency to adapt is higher. You have the opportunity now to reshape your role before these changes are imposed by external forces.
Consider the emerging field of prompt engineering, where the skill lies not just in using AI tools, but in optimizing how they are used. As AI evolves, it's expected to function more as an integrated assistant, using agents to collect data and perform tasks autonomously.
Understanding and influencing how these agents work could be a key skill in many future jobs.
Instead of waiting for organizational strategies to change, we should proactively engage with AI to shape our own professional futures. With the knowledge of AI capabilities and preparing ourselves for integration rather than replacement, we can ensure that AI becomes a partner in our career development, not a threat.
