The Silent Erosion of Careers in the Age of AI
The foundation of our careers has long rested upon three pillars: our portfolios, our degrees, and the experience we have accumulated over the years. These have been the building blocks of professional identity and success. But in the age of artificial intelligence, these pillars no longer provide the protection they once did. AI is not just a tool that speeds up our work; it is a force that rewrites the very rules of the game. Yesterday, we were the professionals, the experts in our fields. Today, we find ourselves racing to keep up, as the world around us changes at a pace we never anticipated.
The subtle nature of this shift is what makes it so difficult to notice. Jobs don’t vanish overnight. Instead, they erode slowly, almost imperceptibly. First, a few tasks are automated, seemingly harmless at first. Then, AI is introduced as a “support tool,” promising to make our jobs easier. Next, budgets shrink, forcing us to do more with less. And eventually, we are replaced by someone younger, someone who speaks the language of AI fluently, who can navigate this new world with ease. Yet, we remain in denial, believing that our years of experience and expertise somehow make us irreplaceable. The truth is, we are not irreplaceable. We are simply not paying attention.
The skills that once set us apart are no longer rare. Writing, a craft that once demanded time and creativity, can now be done faster and more efficiently by GPT. Visual design, once the domain of talented artists, is now generated in seconds by tools like Midjourney. Translation, a field that required deep knowledge of languages, is now handled with precision by DeepL. Analytics, a critical part of decision-making in every industry, is now automated by Python and Power BI. If your job can be replicated by a tool, it is already happening. The writing is on the wall: the very skills that once made us indispensable are now becoming obsolete.
So, what is the real threat we face? It is not AI itself, but our complacency. We do not need to become developers or data scientists to survive in this new world, but we must accept that our profession has already changed. If we continue to cling to the old ways of doing things, if we resist learning new tools and adapting to new technologies, we are not pursuing a career anymore; we are indulging in a hobby. And the market does not pay for hobbies.
To test whether your career is still alive, ask yourself a few simple questions: Do you use AI in at least 10% of your work? Have you automated even one repetitive task? Do you know which skills will be in demand in your industry two years from now? If you answered “no” to two or more of these questions, then your job is already in decline. You may just be the last to realize it.
In this new world, survival does not depend on being the smartest or the most creative. It depends on being the most adaptable. The person who learns quickly, who embraces AI as a tool rather than resisting it, and who moves forward while others hesitate will be the one who thrives. Those who can evolve, who understand that change is inevitable and essential, will survive.
The bottom line is simple: AI is not taking your job. It is taking away your excuses. Your profession will not disappear overnight, but it will gradually become obsolete. One day, without warning, that email will arrive in your inbox: “Sorry — your skills are no longer relevant.” In the end, it will not be AI that is to blame. It will be our refusal to change.