Will AI Replace Your Job?

The million dollar question

Let me tell you a story.

ATMs have been around for more than fifty years, and they are a great invention because they allow us to withdraw and deposit money even when the bank is closed.

For a long time they coexisted with cashiers, who were available during bank opening hours.

Around fifteen years ago, banks in Argentina started pushing clients to do all their banking through ATMs, even during opening hours.

By that time I had already been a client of my bank for more than a decade, and was familiar with all the staff. We were not friends, but we had the kind of familiarity that comes from years of seeing each other a couple of times a week.

I had no problem using the ATM. The only issue was that deposits were made using envelopes, so they did not appear credited in your account immediately. When the bank closed, a clerk would open the ATM and manually enter the deposit amount into your account.

One day I needed the money to be credited immediately, so I went straight to the cashier to make the deposit.

This man, whom I had known for so many years, who used to tell me stories about his children and also knew stories about my life, refused to do it and sent me to the ATM.

I explained the particular situation and told him why I needed the money to be available immediately.

He stayed firm and kept saying that it was bank policy.

I was not angry. I was shocked.

He treated me like I was a complete stranger.

He acted like a machine, not very different from the ATM.

At one point, I realized there was no point continuing the conversation, but before heading to the ATM, I told him:

“I believe you when you say that you are following bank policy, and I am not surprised. Banks are all about money. And I am sure maintaining an ATM is much cheaper than paying your salary, and with this attitude you are just showing them that you are replaceable. So when they fire you, remember that YOU were the one who made yourself replaceable.”

A few months later, he was made redundant.

And for bank clients like myself, it made no difference.

He trained us to believe that dealing with the ATM was as good as dealing with him.

He stripped himself of the most valuable ingredient of a service and professional relationship:

Personal touch.

History has taught us that during all technological revolutions, some jobs are affected, and others disappear.

Machines are cheaper than humans.

And with AI, the situation is even worse, because previous technologies usually affected certain industries.

AI affects everything.

It is inside every household and affects all of us.

I do not know what you do, so I do not have an answer to your question.

But I can tell you a few things about AI, and you can make your own conclusion.

AI does not have imagination

All the answers and ideas that AI can give you come from something that a human wrote or said and that became part of the data AI uses.

So if you want originality, do not look for that in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever tool you are using, because you will only get a codified copy of something that someone else thought before.

AI cannot understand nuances

Whenever I am brainstorming an idea with AI and try to go deeper, it becomes impossible.

I get the same robotic suggestions every time.

And if there is something I learned after almost thirty years of working in the world of ideas, it is that everything is in the detail.

AI gets confused very easily

Hallucinations are more common than people realize, and you have to stay alert because even if you point out the mistake, AI quickly enters a loop of contradictions.

AI does not have perspective

It cannot “read the room”, only code.

And that leaves out a lot of information that matters when making decisions.

And this takes me to my last point.

AI does not have strategic thinking, the most valuable skill you can bring to the table in today’s world.

I started this post with a real story, and I will end it talking about a movie.

Last week, I rewatched Working Girl, the 1988 movie about a young and ambitious secretary, Tess (Melanie Griffith), who wants a career in finance.

She has a business degree from night school but is not accepted by the corporate system because of her working class background.

She shares an idea with her boss, the entitled Katherine (Sigourney Weaver), who tells her she is going to study the proposal.

But Tess finds out that Katherine plans to present the idea to investors as her own.

While Katherine is out of town, Tess gets in touch with Jack (Harrison Ford), a financial adviser who is also dating Katherine.

Together, they present the idea.

But Katherine storms into the meeting and tells everybody that Tess is a fraud who stole the idea from her.

In the following scene, we see Tess leaving her office, defeated, at the same time Katherine, Jack, and the investors arrive at the building to close the deal.

Tess stands by her story. Jack backs her up.

And when Katherine pushes the investors into the elevator, Tess shouts:

“Ask her to tell you about the hole in your deal.”

The biggest investor steps out of the elevator and Tess finally gets the chance to explain how she came up with the idea.

When the investor asks Katherine how she came up with it, Katherine has no answer.

And her lie is exposed.

I do not want to spoil the happy ending, and I highly recommend watching the film.

It is very interesting to see how different the world was regarding technology, and how little has changed when it comes to women and class privilege.

But that is a topic for another post.

What I want to point out is that you can think of AI as Katherine.

AI can suggest an idea, but it can not own it.

We are living through challenging times.

Job certainty is a thing of the past.

But do not make it easy for AI to replace you.

Own your story.

Own your voice.

Own your point of view.

Own your strategic thinking.

But most importantly, keep your personal and human touch in whatever you do.

We have souls, and that is impossible to replace.

PS. If you want to know more about ethical principles, visit The AI Ethics Studio and download your free copy of The Little Book of AI Ethics.

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