Who Will Have AI-Powered Jobs in Your Companies?

In order to answer this question, let’s first look back at history. Seventy percent of today’s jobs didn’t exist 100 years ago–the reason why? New technology. We didn’t need pilots before airplanes or long-haul truckers before 18-wheelers. More significantly, when computers, enterprise software, and the Internet emerged, the nature of work and the accompanying job descriptions changed rapidly across all industries.

New job postings are poised to explode with the adoption of AI.

• Automation Engineers to develop new AI-enabled business processes

• AI Risk and Governance Specialists to assess risks associated with AI systems and maintain governance frameworks to ensure responsible deployment.

• AI Agent Managers to monitor and manage virtual employees

• AI Model Managers to develop, validate, and manage Small Language Models

Many more jobs haven’t been dreamed up yet. Yet, jobs are always eliminated by new technology. Where have all the horse-drawn carriage drivers gone? Noisy rooms full of typists have disappeared. There is no escaping that new technology renders many jobs obsolete.

When old jobs disappear and new ones emerge, the transition can be alarming for many workers. Employees worry that they’ll be replaced and won’t be able to reinvent themselves. However, there will still be many jobs in every traditional functional area of business from marketing and sales to finance and operations. Job descriptions within these specialties will change to reflect AI-enablement, and these jobs will need to be filled by people who can leverage AI, but the traditional functions of corporations will remain.

In his book Co-Intelligence, Ethan Mollick explains, “Jobs are composed of bundles of tasks. Jobs fit into larger systems. Without considering systems and tasks, we can’t really understand the impact of AI on jobs.” How employees accomplish tasks within their job will change quickly with AI adoption; however, the systems in which our jobs operate will evolve more slowly, as we reengineer processes and uncover new opportunities.

Where will management teams find these AI-fluent employees?

Your managers don’t need to post these new job listings on Indeed. In fact, they wouldn’t even know how to write the job descriptions yet. Instead, they must recognize that AI will enhance the value of hard-earned institutional knowledge and experience within their organizations. That value is stored in the minds of their current employees–those who already know the ins and outs of the company, customers, and the marketplace. They are better positioned to lead their company into an AI-centric world than new hires with online AI training certificates. In truth, the fastest and most effective business transformations will come from empowering your current workforce to redefine and perform these new jobs within their current functional areas. This requires investing in your workforce, not replacing them.

Jeff Bussgang of FlyBridge Capital and HBS has said, “I would mandate that all top AI capabilities be available to everyone in the organization… The other major challenge is training… You need to make sure your entire organization knows this is a priority, not a toy or a fad, but a fundamental competitive advantage.”

So who will have AI-powered jobs in your portfolio companies? Everyone.

If you would like help developing comprehensive AI adoption plans to unlock the full potential of your portfolio companies, NextAccess can help.  Please contact me to schedule a complimentary consultation.

NextAccess Authors: Scott Kosch and Valerie VanDerzee

NextAccess guides organizations through AI transformation by fostering sustainable change that optimizes operational excellence while ensuring individuals are engaged, upskilled, and empowered to flourish. We specialize in helping our clients achieve breakthrough improvements in productivity, efficiency, and quality by unlocking the full potential of their people and capabilities.

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Message Scott Kosch or Valerie VanDerzee to schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to explore how our expertise can help your organization.