Will AI Take My Job? · PlainTextPoetry

The idea of AI swooping in to snatch away jobs definitely feels somewhat looming and scary…but the reality isn’t quite that simple.

For most people, AI probably won’t directly replace your job tomorrow. Instead, it’s more likely that certain types of roles (particularly lower-effort and entry-level positions) will gradually become less available as automation takes over routine tasks. However, I believe that new jobs will also emerge, especially those leveraging human creativity, empathy, strategic thinking, and advanced technical skills.

The overall number of jobs will likely shrink in some areas, but new opportunities will rise in others. Anyone who confidently claims to know exactly how this massive shift will unfold is probably trying to sell you something, either clickbait or investor hype. Even the flashy CEOs of major tech companies are guessing (educated guesses, sure, but guesses nonetheless).

The truth is we’re dealing with a highly disruptive technology, and no one has crystal ball, no matter how much they try to convince you otherwise.

Let’s Talk Facts

When most people talk about AI (at least as of 6/19/25), they are talking about LLMs and the interfaces that sit on top of them, the ones that you chat with (e.g. ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc). There are also other AI tools with more “advanced” functions (image generation, video generation, code generation, etc.), but these tools are also interfaces to an LLM (usually one of the frontier models) with some extra instructions & logic.

Large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini enable us to work faster and smarter, there’s no question there. Way faster and smarter. These tools pattern-match, generate content, write code, categorize messy information, and present options in seconds. For example, personally, I use LLMs daily to:

Scan and analyze entire codebases quicker than any human could.
Generate strategic options instantly, dramatically reducing cognitive load.
Quickly categorize and structure complex information, saving me hours of manual sorting.

There is a catch: You have to know how to use these tools effectively. To truly unlock AI’s value, you need to master prompt engineering, clearly define context, specify objectives, and explicitly state what output format you want. Learning to prompt effectively is rapidly becoming an essential professional skill. Shameless plug: check out HiiBo if you want to learn how to prompt more effectively.

A recent McKinsey report reinforces this idea, stating:

“Generative AI tools…will profoundly change the way we work — but they still depend heavily on human guidance and judgment.” (McKinsey, 2023)

Agents: Still Kinda Awkward

AI agents — which are systems designed to automate entire workflows — are still clunky, awkward, and often frustrating. They generate repetitive and obviously robotic outputs that people quickly tire of (I’m sure you’ve gotten some of these spammy marketing emails, seen the generic social media content flooding the internet, or talked to one of the many tone-deaf chatbots). This awkwardness largely stems from poor context management and insufficient human-like mimicry.

That said, some simpler agent applications have already taken hold, such as:

Routing initial customer service inquiries.
Automating basic scheduling tasks and reminders.
Filtering and categorizing incoming emails.

Public resistance to automated agents is understandable. There’s natural skepticism, fear, and uncertainty around giving tasks fully over to AI.

But at the end of the day, convenience and familiarity tend to drive adoption. Gartner predicts that by 2027, about 50% of customer support interactions will be AI-handled, up from around 25% today (Gartner, 2023). The comfort level will inevitably rise as these tools improve, and as people adjust to speaking with robots on the internet.

AI Impact by Industry

Let’s try to break down AI impact across key industries, grading them on two criteria:

Job Replacement Grade: How vulnerable existing roles are to replacement (A = very resistant, F = highly vulnerable).
Job Creation Grade: How likely new AI-related roles are to emerge (A = high potential, F = low potential).

📞 Customer Service

Replacement: D+ (high vulnerability)

Jobs affected: Front-line customer support reps, initial query handlers, routine issue responders.

Creation:C (moderate potential)

New roles: Complex case managers, AI customer-experience analysts, oversight and quality-control specialists.

🖋️ Content Creation & Journalism

Replacement:C (moderate vulnerability)

Jobs affected: Entry-level content writers, simple news updates, basic social media posts.

Creation:B+ (good potential)

New roles: AI content strategists, human-AI content curators, quality reviewers, prompt specialists in creative fields.

💻 Tech & Software Development

Replacement:B- (moderately resistant)

Jobs affected: Junior coders, repetitive debugging roles, boilerplate software development.

Creation:A (high potential)

New roles: Prompt engineers, AI software integrators, LLM trainers, AI system architects.

🏥 Healthcare

Replacement:B+ (moderately resistant)

Jobs affected: Administrative assistants, entry-level diagnostic technicians, repetitive paperwork roles.

Creation:A- (high potential)

New roles: AI diagnostic specialists, remote monitoring analysts, personalized healthcare strategists, AI-assisted medical researchers.

🚚 Manufacturing & Logistics

Replacement:D (high vulnerability)

Jobs affected: Assembly line workers, basic logistics coordinators, warehouse roles.

Creation:C (moderate potential)

New roles: Robotics managers, automated logistics planners, advanced inventory analysts.

🏫 Education

Replacement:B (moderately resistant)

Jobs affected: Administrative staff, graders, repetitive teaching roles.

Creation:A+ (high potential)

New roles: Personalized learning coaches, AI curriculum developers, educational prompt engineers, AI education specialists.

💰 Finance & Accounting

Replacement:C (moderate vulnerability)

Jobs affected: Basic accounting tasks, routine financial analysis, bookkeeping.

Creation:B+ (good potential)

New roles: Financial insight analysts, AI finance strategists, compliance and oversight specialists.

⚖️ Legal

Replacement:C- (moderate vulnerability)

Jobs affected: Document reviewers, basic research analysts, administrative assistants.

Creation:B (good potential)

New roles: AI regulatory compliance experts, litigation strategy specialists, prompt engineers for legal tech, AI ethics advisors.

🎨 Creative Arts

Replacement:B (moderately resistant)

Jobs affected: Basic graphic design, repetitive creative production tasks, stock media generation.

Creation:A+ (high potential)

New roles: Creative AI specialists, prompt engineers for art and music, AI-driven media curators, ethical AI art consultants.

According to the World Economic Forum, roughly 83 million jobs may be displaced globally by 2027, but around 69 million new roles will likely emerge — mostly in fields directly influenced by AI (WEF, 2023).

Final Musings

As with most things, the devil is in the details.

The rise of AI mirrors past disruptive innovations, like the internet or Google. Just as those technologies fundamentally reshaped industries and changed jobs, AI will too. If the underlying societal and economic infrastructure (like wealth distribution, education, and labor structures) is problematic, AI risks amplifying existing inequalities. We’ve seen this pattern before with global trade and technological shifts.

Yet, the same disruptions often yield innovation, efficiency, and entirely new ways to work. AI is ultimately a human-built tool intended to enhance human productivity and creativity.

Historian Yuval Noah Harari offers wisdom here:

“We have no idea what jobs will look like in 2040, but we must prepare ourselves not for a single job-for-life, but for lifelong learning and reinvention.” (Harari, Sapiens)

Personally, I believe the smartest move is to engage critically with AI. Learn its strengths and weaknesses, understand prompting, and stay adaptable.

As Vince Staples aptly put it:

“If you’re trying to make it in the game, you gotta know the glitches.”

AI isn’t going away, it’s looking more and more like the glitch of our generation. Probably wise to master it rather than fear it.