Introduction
The age of artificial intelligence is here.
The question is not whether AI will impact your career, but how – are with it or against it?
Will you be prepared in time or be left behind?
Let’s go over the basics of where we’re at, so that we can figure out what you need to do next…
Understanding the Shift: How AI is Redefining Careers
“Jobs are definitely going to go away,” says Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI – perhaps the biggest executive playing in the field of AI.
He continues, “A lot of people working on AI pretend that it’s only going to be good; it’s only going to be a supplement; no one is ever going to be replaced. But jobs are definitely going to go away, full stop” (source).
Sam Altman isn’t alone. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) also estimates that “AI will affect almost 40 percent of jobs around the world, replacing some and complimenting others”. Similarly, a Goldman Sachs report reveals that AI could replace the equivalent of 300 million full-time jobs worldwide. Meanwhile, the McKinsey Global Institute predicts that by 2030, at least 14% of employees globally will need to change careers entirely due to AI, robotics, and digital transformation.
While prediction is a precarious business, when there is a confluence of predictors saying the same thing – it’s safe to say that AI will kill a LOT of jobs…
Ultimately, we may not know the full extent yet, but the world of work is going to change. It’s already changing…
Why Early Adaptation Is Crucial for Career Survival
It all has to do with how AI is changing the professional world.
AI is an all encompassing technology which transforms tasks, streamlines processes, and create new capabilities.
Or in colloquial terms: it replaces a good chunk of what people do. Not all of what people do. But enough of what people do to be able to disrupt the job market.
Over the course of the next few years, it will completely transform how work is done.
This means that while some jobs will be supplemented by AI, many will be significantly downsized, and others will be completely eliminated. Imagine a task that once required a team of five now being managed by just one person, or an 80-hour billable project reduced to a two-hour task – both scenarios drawn from our own organization’s current use of AI.
This will, obviously, increase labor competition. Therefore, to thrive in this new environment, you must level up. You must adapt quickly. You must understand what AI is capable of and strategize around it.
Remember: The key is not to fear AI, but to leverage it in a way that makes you indispensable.
Let’s get into specifics and show you how…
Identifying AI-Disruptive Jobs and Areas of Opportunity
Around one in five U.S. workers hold positions highly exposed to AI. This means their core tasks – the tasks they are paid for – are susceptible to automation or elimination through AI technologies. (source: Pew Research)
Who Faces the Most Risk?
The consensus on Wall Street is: Jobs most vulnerable to AI are generally better compensated, requiring college degrees and emphasizing analytical skills.
Pew Research found that around 19% of American workers are in such jobs, where core activities could either be automated or significantly assisted by AI (Pew Research). Another 23% have minimal exposure, while the rest – nearly 60% – are somewhere in between.
This means, while 1 in 5 will likely lose their jobs outright or experience significant setbacks, about 8 in 10 workers will be touched by AI in a way that diminishes their power in the job market. Jobs at highest risk tend to be in well-paid fields that require a college degree; those with a bachelor’s degree or more (27%) are over twice as likely to experience AI disruption compared to those with just a high school diploma (12%).
Only Half The Story
The focus on disruption from Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT has become the shiny object everyone’s captivated by – but it’s only part of the bigger picture.
Yes, well-compensated roles that require college degrees and analytical skills are clearly at risk from these technologies, and they are the ones drawing the most immediate attention. However, these jobs are merely the first in line, not the only ones that face displacement.
In fact, they may not even be the ones that experience the biggest displacement…
Behind the scenes of popular limelight, the reality is that everyone faces risk from AI, regardless of their job type or industry. This is because the workforce is experiencing a dual disruption: office and analytical jobs are being impacted by large language models (LLMs) that automate communication and data analysis, while manual and physical labor is increasingly at risk due to advances in robotics.
Make no mistake: Although LLMs have been capturing the headlines, the evolution in robotics is making significant strides – arguably more significant than LLMs, for which progress appears to have plateaued (time will tell if this is a short term hiccup, or bigger obstacle).
Regardless of the story with LLMs, new robotics will automate many tasks that are traditionally considered “safe from AI disruption” as well. For instance, Amazon already deployed advanced robots aimed at enhancing productivity in warehouses, showcasing the push towards robotic labor across multiple sectors. And there is a rabid race to develop cheap humanoid robots, including efforts from Tesla to make a humanoid robot that costs under $20k. (If you’ve paid for any “low skill” labor in the past decade, you’d understand the insane level of business value such robots propose.)
This Is Just The Very Beginning
It’s also worth noting that, despite the widespread narrative around AI adoption, only a small fraction of U.S. businesses – fewer than 3% – are using AI. Those that use it are predominantly large businesses, representing between 11% and 16% of overall employment.
In other words, there is a LOT of disruption, automation, and job elimination – all of which lead to massive corporate profits – ahead.
Based on these facts, we get the sense that:
- AI adoption is still in its early stages
- There are no clear “safe jobs” or “safe sectors”
- AI disruption will be most visible at big companies and trickle down to the rest of an industry over time
Takeaway: You can’t run. You can’t hide. Thinking “my job is safe” is a mistake.
Whether you are in a white-collar job subject to LLM disruption or a manual labor position under threat from robotics, understanding the coming changes and positioning yourself with skills that are harder for AI to replicate is critical for long-term career survival.
How Will Your Job Change
AI will change:
- How your job is done
- How many people are needed
- Whether or not your job exists
Although “safe jobs” like teachers and lawyers will continue to be essential, their daily tasks will shift dramatically. Lawyers, for instance, will still perform their “lawyering”, but will increasingly rely on AI for research, inevitably reducing the number of lawyers required for the same workload, and consequently, making entry into these fields even more competitive. Even positions like psychologists and surgeons – roles with high levels of human interaction, which are considered difficult to automate – will also adapt to collaborate with AI.
The Cost of Inexperience: Why Newcomers Face an Uphill Battle
It turns out that access to AI tools can boost productivity by 14% on average, with novice and low-skilled workers experiencing a 34% improvement, while experienced and highly skilled workers experiencing nominal improvement (NBER).
In other words, the biggest profits are promised through automation of the work of done by less experienced professionals, causing the biggest disruptions to the jobs held by new graduates and early career professionals.
Keep in mind, companies are built – and even legally required – to put profit first. That means they’ll automate anything they can and cut anyone they can to boost their bottom line. And when it comes to integrating AI, they’ll likely favor keeping the experienced workers over bringing in newcomers because it’s the safer bet for quick results.
Even if this short-sighted approach ends up hurting them in the long run – like making it harder for the company to stay viable by not investing in fresh talent – they’ll still go for it. Why? Because executive bonuses and paychecks depend on short-term profits, not on whether the company will thrive ten years from now. So, short-term gains always win, no matter the long-term consequences.
Takeaway: Tenure, track record, and depth of experience gets a premium. Shallow expertise can be replicated, but deep expertise cannot.
Emerging Fields and New Opportunities
Of course, it’s not just doom and gloom. There’s also an upside…
The World Economic Forum projects a significant rise in job creation driven by AI advancements. While we may not know what those jobs will be, it is a reasonable bet that there will be new opportunities. That being said, it’s not possible to grow your career on jobs you can’t even name – therefore, we’ll refrain from speculating on sci-fi job opportunities like like “AI interaction designer” or “machine learning ethicist.”
What we will do, however, is to point to a “zone of opportunity”…
The OECD points out that small and mid-sized businesses contribute disproportionately to new job creation worldwide, meaning, there will likely be a fertile ground for innovation and employment as small firms adapt to and leverage AI. Furthermore, since AI job displacement starts at big firms and trickles down, it may just be safer to be at smaller firms while the job market stabilizes.
Takeaway: AI will kill jobs at big firms, while creating jobs at small. Look for opportunities in the small to midsize firms, which may be a transitory safe haven.
Demand, Governments & Macro Forces
We must not ignore the government’s role in shaping the future job landscape in the AI-disrupted economy.
While the investor class will unilaterally benefit from the adoption of AI, with an anticipated AI driven global growth of 4-6%, the destruction of jobs and the domino effect on the social landscape will undoubtedly have consequences.
The reaction to those consequences, especially in the form of politicians, government actions and new social movements, will definitely be “a thing“. How big a thing, depends on the level of civic engagement…
Therefore, we need to pay close attention to how labor laws are changing and where government investments are flowing, as these will heavily influence demand.
Remember: We’ve been here before…
During the Industrial Revolution, substantial public investment in education helped workers acquire the essential skills of reading, writing, and math to meet new job demands (source). This type of investment was crucial, since the initial phase of the revolution didn’t create endless new value. We first experienced a 25 year decline of growth immediately following the inventions of the combustion engine (source). It took a while before things got going.
In other words, it’s not just the markets and the private sector. As new sectors of demand slowly open up, how the government and the population at large reacts will change the playing field.
Takeaway: Keep your eyes on government actions and investments in AI; they’ll create opportunities for those who know how to leverage them, while the uninformed will be left behind.
Skills You Need to Stay Ahead
As you might have already figured out: How AI changes your future will completely depend on your skills.
The skills you possess.. Or more specifically, the skills you get paid to use.. Are going to be the difference between thriving, merely surviving, or being destitute in the AI disrupted future.
It all hinges on the specific nature of your job, what your skills are and how your skills are used.
To future-proof your career, we recommend a three pronged approach: Developing technical AI-proof skills to become part of the AI transformation, developing non-technical AI-proof skills to become hard to replace by AI, and developing career skills that make you more competitive in the job market.
Technical AI-Proof Skills
- Data Literacy and Machine Learning: Understanding data and how to leverage machine learning is essential for integrating AI into your work. The ability to analyze data effectively will position you favorably as corporations increasingly rely on data-driven decision-making or use data to train their own AI models
- Programming and Automation: Rather than resisting AI, learn how to work with it. Or better yet, get it working for you. Familiarizing yourself with programming and automation will enable you to become part of the disruption.
Takeaway: By developing the technical skills that help companies implement AI, you can become the one person they replace a department of five with.
Non-Technical AI-Proof Skills
- Social and Interpersonal Skills: Instructing, service orientation, monitoring, social perceptiveness, coordination, negotiation, and persuasion. These skills are essential for roles involving direct human interaction, as AI struggles to replicate human empathy and social nuance.
- Critical Thinking and Communication Skills: Critical thinking, writing, speaking, reading comprehension, active listening, and judgment and decision-making. As AI takes over routine tasks, the ability to analyze information and communicate effectively will set you apart in any profession.
- Managerial and Organizational Skills: Management of personnel resources, time management, and complex problem-solving. Effective management and organizational skills will remain vital.
(Note: The non-technical AI proof skills identified above based on Pew Research findings about AI exposure of jobs.)
Takeaway: Focus on and develop skills that are hard for AI to replicate, making it harder to make you redundant.
AI Proof “Career Skills”
Technical AI-proof skills are in demand because companies want to downsize and operate more efficiently. While these skills are harder to develop, they offer strong protection against automation.
In contrast, non-technical AI-proof skills are easier to acquire. As a result, they don’t give you as much protection, and experience greater competition in the job market.
It’s also worth noting that, while skills like management are indeed resistant to automation, they only matter if you already hold a management position. Getting into such roles often depends more on power, connections, and nepotism than actual skill.
Therefore, if you currently hold a position requiring non-technical AI-proof skills, focusing on those can help you maintain your job. But simply doubling down on these skills won’t secure new employment. To get the job in the first place, you need what are known as “career skills.”
Career skills are essential competencies professionals utilize for job acquisition; career skills operate in activities related to negotiation, resume writing, writing cover letters, and networking.
A great example of a career skill is “The Language of Value,” which is about effective communication around the immediate needs of employers. As with all career skills, it cannot be automated and will always be critical in the job market.
Takeaway: Focus on developing career skills that enhance your marketability to secure employment in an ever more competitive job market.
Strategic Tips: Putting It All Together
Let’s wrap it up with a few additional pointers that take it to the next level.
1. Go Where the Puck Is Heading
It’s essential to anticipate not just where jobs are now but where they will be tomorrow. Pay attention to our Emerging Career Trends reports as well as reports on Career Finances & Industry Insights. With just a little awareness, you can catch growth opportunities from a mile away.
2. Build Authority and Influence
Use platforms like LinkedIn to share insights, engage in discussions, and publish articles that highlight your unique perspective on industry trends. Create visibility through speaking engagements at industry conferences and participating in panels, positioning yourself as a go-to resource in your field.
Your personal authority can be your strongest asset, perhaps even more valuable than your actual skills.
3. Embrace Lifelong Learning
Commit to continuous learning through both traditional and non-traditional avenues. While credentials used to open the door to entry level work, this is going to be less of a differentiation going forward. Expertise beyond initial credentials (i.e. college degree), however, will set you apart in the emerging world. Seek out workshops, boot camps, and immersive learning experiences that push you beyond your comfort zone.
(Note: The National Bureau of Economic Research indicates that younger workers tend to adapt more swiftly to AI technologies, meaning, seasoned professionals need to invest a lot more to their continued education. If you think you don’t need to take more workshops – you especially need to take more workshops!)
4. Forge Alliances That Matter
Engage with mentors and peers who are not only in your field but are also pioneers in technology and innovation. Look for communities focused on AI and its implications in your sector. Platforms like Meetup or industry-specific forums can connect you with thought leaders and disruptors. These relationships can provide hidden opportunities that you won’t find through a job search.
Remember: Once the carnage is over, few will remain standing on top of mountains of opportunity. Whether you get there through technical aptitude or network connections does not matter – it’s all about getting there..
5. Build a Portfolio of Value
In an age where automation can perform routine tasks, demonstrating your unique value beyond typical job duties becomes essential. Develop a portfolio that showcases your projects, achievements, and skills that set you apart even if – especially if – you’re in an industry where people don’t use portfolios.
Remember: In a highly competitive job market, the few accomplishments you list on your resume no longer cut it. Nowadays, you need to provide easily consumed proof of your value that can be instantly communicated (think memes). For instance, if you’re a marketer, create a portfolio page on your website (of course you have a website, you need to), and describe the campaigns you’ve led that resulted in measurable outcomes (without breaking any non-disclosure agreements, of course).
6. Develop a Career Buffer
Building a buffer against potential job loss due to AI involves diversifying your skill set and experiences. This can mean taking on side projects or exploring freelance opportunities that not only enhance your resume but also provide additional income. According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, individuals with diverse experiences are better equipped to adapt to the rapid changes brought by AI (source).
Consider freelancing or consulting in or adjacent to your field. The real benefit comes from your new contacts and expanded track record. The extra income is a neat bonus.
7. Move Up or Get Left Behind
AI is about to shake things up, and jobs at the bottom of the corporate ladder are the first in line to go. If you’re sitting in a low-level role, now is the time to act.
The higher you go, the safer you are from the automation threat. Senior positions require skills that AI can’t easily replace – skills like strategic thinking, emotional intelligence, and creativity. Conversely, the longer you stay put in a vulnerable position, the higher the chance you’ll get swept away by the AI displacement.
As you move up, you’ll do better, on many levels. Of course, this is easier said than done… But it can be done. (Hint: Look for our next installment of Break into Management or Executive Ascent programs.)
Conclusion
All work is being redefined by AI, but that doesn’t mean jobs will disappear.
Rather, they will transform.
By focusing on demand-driven skills, developing those irreplaceable human capabilities, and expanding your career skills, you can turn this crisis into an opportunity.
But you have to do the work!
Here’s a parting thought of some interest…
There is this cliche that the Chinese word for crisis is the same as the word for opportunity. Nothing could be further from the truth. The cliche is wrong.
The actual Chinese word, 危机 (wēijī): “crisis” means “crucial point (when something begins or changes).” It does not mean opportunity.
Similarly, this AI driven disruption of the workforce is a crucial point of profound changes. But it does not automatically spell opportunity for you.
Whether or not you can turn this into an opportunity will depend on the actions you take.
And the best time to act is now, before the AI changes hit the market with its full force…