The AI Takeover That Isn’t (Yet?)

Many have seen this headline, or one similar to it: “AI is coming for your job.” “White-collar work will never be the same.” Perhaps you read a recent article in the The Wall Street Journal suggesting that executives are starting to treat their staff differently, less as individuals, more as placeholders, due to AI. That is the article that prompted me to want to research this topic a bit better.

Here’s the thing: Many of us work in industries where AI is increasingly embedded into the products and services we market, sell, and deliver. I’m not an AI architect or engineer; I’ve taken training for various platforms, sat through demos, and worked on go-to-market and sales strategies for solutions that claim to harness its power.

What I’ve consistently seen—across clients, partners, and internal teams—isn’t a rush to replace people. It’s a push to equip them: streamline manual tasks, speed up decision-making, improve customer targeting, manage regulatory concerns, and reduce operational drag. But you wouldn’t know that from the headlines—or, increasingly, from the way some executives are talking. Instead of treating AI like a versatile toolset, they’re wielding it like a blunt instrument.

The Research: Are Jobs Really Being Replaced?
Based on my reading up on this topic, there’s plenty of credible research suggesting that the AI jobs apocalypse just isn’t materializing—at least not yet.

According to a March 2024 report from the OECD, while AI is expected to transform 27% of all jobs in member countries, actual job displacement due to AI has been limited so far. The report finds more evidence of task augmentation than outright replacement.

A 2023 study from MIT’s Work of the Future Initiative found similar patterns: AI is automating specific tasks, not entire occupations. Think of AI drafting a first version of a document for a marketer or helping glean information from medical records, not replace the nurse doing it.

Even Goldman Sachs, whose 2023 report sparked many headlines claiming “300 million jobs could be impacted,” clarified that most of the change will occur through task transformation, not layoffs.
So if the data shows minimal job loss so far, what are people seeing?

What’s Really Happening on the Ground?
Some industries are using AI to reduce labor costs—most notably:

• Customer service: Major banks and telcos have replaced call center agents with AI chatbots for routine issues.
• Media: A few digital newsrooms are experimenting with AI-generated content at scale (with mixed results).
• Coding & Testing: Some tech firms use tools like GitHub Copilot to reduce the need for junior developers.

But even here, companies are reallocating labor rather than laying off en masse. The goal is faster and better service, not zero humans.

In contrast, in healthcare, consulting, legal, and B2B SaaS, AI is primarily used as an efficiency tool—streamlining research, customizing recommendations, or automating reporting. People are still central to the process.

So Why the Dystopian Mood?
It comes down to how leaders choose to use AI. The WSJ article I previously mentioned makes a compelling argument in one respect: some executives are viewing AI as a way to “restructure” and shift power dynamics. Not because the tech requires it, but because it creates a convenient excuse.

This isn’t about AI replacing jobs. It’s about leaders trying to justify doing what they already wanted to do—cutting headcount, reducing costs, or removing friction points between management and labor. AI provides them plausible deniability.

That’s not inevitable. It’s a choice.

What We Should Be Asking
The real question isn’t “Will AI take my job?” It’s “How will my role change, and will leadership reinvest those gains in people?”

Because another wave is coming: one where AI actually enables new roles, such as AI ethicists, customer journey designers, and model auditors. But none of that happens if the mindset is, “How can we get rid of people?”

If you’re in the trenches, you know: the most potent use of AI is when it helps people do their jobs better, not vanish them.
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AI dystopia should not become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Source Material
1.     OECD (2024) – The Impact of AI on the Labour Market: What We Know So Far
https://www.oecd.org/employment/impact-of-ai-on-jobs-2024.pdf

2.     MIT Work of the Future (2023) – Exploring the Future of Work with Generative AI
https://workofthefuture.mit.edu

3.     Goldman Sachs (2023) – The Potentially Large Effects of Artificial Intelligence on Economic Growth
https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/ai-could-boost-global-gdp.html
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4.     Wall Street Journal (May 2025) – Companies Are Starting to Treat Workers Differently Because of AI
(Note: This article sits behind a paywall. I have Apple News, so I read it there.)