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Ask any workplace leader or tech vendor if generative AI will replace jobs and in almost all cases you will get a resounding "no." It will free people up from mundane tasks to do more meaningful work, is the common refrain.
Workers still aren't convinced.
Project Management Isn't a 'Menial Task'
Take Microsoft and LinkedIn's recent Work Trend Index. It found that while the use of generative AI is at an all-time high, with 75% of surveyed workers saying they use it for their jobs, over half (53%) are keeping quiet about their use for fear it will make them look replaceable.
While workplace managers will argue it isn't the case, the fact that generative AI can fill gaps in business processes means organizations can hire fewer people to do these so-called menial tasks.
Last month at Microsoft Build, the company unveiled a number of copilots, additions and upgrades that pushed the boundary of the kinds of tasks GenAI can now do.
Team Copilot is a good example here. If it works as promised upon release, Team Copilot will be able to manage meeting agendas, work as a group collaborator in team chats and act as a project manager to achieve team goals.
Obviously, human input is involved — but none of these tasks are menial. So is generative AI going to act as a workplace aid for humans or is there a real chance that it will replace jobs?
Related Article: The Impact of AI at Work: Redefining Jobs and Workweeks
Replacing Tasks, Not Jobs
The modern workforce is changing faster than ever before. Workers who once pieced together components by hand now monitor and perfect how machines do it. Generative AI is replacing certain tasks, not jobs, Lou Bachenheimer, CTO for the Americas at SS&C Blue Prism, told Reworked.
Demand will continue for human skills such as creativity, empathy and critical thinking — work machines can’t do, he said. The repetitive tasks that computers excel at are the same tasks humans find boring and tedious, which means automation efforts increase employee satisfaction and decrease errors.
While such technology can help speed up tedious tasks, it is about more than just freeing up human resources, Bachenheimer continued. Citing research from McKinsey, he said the second most common reason for automating processes was enhancing experiences for customers and employees.
Among the companies McKinsey surveyed, about two-thirds saw improvements in quality control, customer satisfaction and employee experience. Bringing together human ingenuity and intelligent automation makes for more productive, and ultimately more valuable, employees.
Limited budgets and economic challenges push many companies to think about using AI to reduce costs, Bloomfilter CEO and founder Erik Severinghaus said. However, when looking at the bigger picture, it's more common for AI to support the work people do instead of completely taking over their jobs.
"The secret is in the way companies put into practice and combine AI technology. For it to work well, there must be a team atmosphere where AI is looked at as an ally instead of a rival," he said.
Bloomfilter uses artificial intelligence to improve software development. For the moment, it automates certain tasks so that developers can focus more on creating new things and making the software better for users.
However, as generative AI improves, it will move deeper and deeper into the workplace, necessitating a change in how they think about generative AI.
“The role of AI in the work environment is going to grow, and workers need to change for this," Severinghaus said. “To accept AI means changing how we think — understanding that AI is better at jobs with data while people are good at jobs needing creativity and feeling for others.”
This kind of partnership where people and AI work together could result in never before seen levels of productivity and creativity.
He reiterated that the main purpose of AI is to improve what people can do, not take their place. If we think ahead and promote working together, we can make full use of artificial intelligence for progress and new ideas at work.
Related Article: How Companies Can Get Employees on Board With the New Wave of AI
Replacing jobs?
All of this assumes that company leaders won’t reduce headcount when generative AI becomes capable of replacing entire jobs. Technical recruiter Alex Libre has seen firsthand how AI is starting to replace jobs, particularly in the tech sector.
The catch however, he said, is the trend is going underreported due to the discreet investments companies are making in AI tools following layoffs.
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In the last year alone, Libre has worked with a number of mid-sized tech clients who have undergone significant transformations. Among the examples are:
- The founders of a San Francisco-based seed-stage startup where Libre was serving as head of talent laid off all but two of their dozen or so software engineers when advancements in autonomous AI developer agents made much of the coding available at a drastically lower price point.
- Multiple clients no longer prohibit the use of ChatGPT and similar tools during coding interviews, he said. The previous view that this was akin to cheating has been thrown out, with most clients now allowing and even encouraging their use. The expectation now is employees will be using these tools once on the job. Technical interview questions have tended to become harder because of this.
Libre went on to say multiple companies he's worked with have laid off substantial numbers of recruiters and salespeople. Those remaining were then equipped with advanced AI tools, allowing them to handle workloads previously handled by much larger teams.
“With tighter budgets, organizations are leveraging AI to maintain or even increase productivity with fewer humans,” he said. "This strategic shift isn’t always publicly highlighted, but it's been very clear from my perspective as someone who hires technical talent for these companies.”
He added his clients are now looking to hire people with experience working with AI tools and leveraging them to their full potential, rather than simply executing their job requirements in more traditional ways.
Quiller.ai founder Mike Nellis said some companies are clearly considering replacing humans with AI to tighten budgets — but he said doing so would be a mistake.
The minute companies start replacing employees with AI, they risk damaging their culture, he said. Firing employees in favor of AI replacements creates a hostile environment, making it difficult to foster a culture of innovation and collaboration.