A week in AI is like a year in other industries. I hope these issues become your weekly source of AI information, inspiration, and ideas. If we haven’t met before, I’m Amanda Smith. I write about AI and the fascinating folks who are building in this brave new world.
This week in AI:
New bill to cap chatbot use
U.S. senators want AI companies to give parental control
YouTube tests new AI feature
Would you use a YouTube chatbot while you watch?
Taylor Swift fighting deepfakes
Swiftie filed two trademarks last week.
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AI will reshape jobs, not replace them
AI is almost as polarizing as crypto, but there’s one big difference in the narrative. Crypto would eat traditional finance. AI will disrupt everything and everyone. This is likely true, but it might not lead to mass job casualties as the tech bros are prophesizing.
At least not according to Boston Consulting Group’s new research. There will be changes, but not casualties. Their analysis, based on microeconomic modeling, reveals that over the next 2-3 years, 50-55% of jobs in the U.S. will be reshaped by AI. Not replaced.
As stated in the report, “when productivity gains from AI use trigger increased end product demand and the potential for augmentation is high, we believe there will be a need for more and, in some cases, new human roles.”
Job augmentation and new-job creation will happen fast, but full substitution of jobs by AI will be slower. In the future, there could be a 10-15% loss, but the true impact is uncertain right now.
BCG gave leaders a CTA: Those who cut their workforce beyond AI’s ability to replace it will see productivity drop and critical talent walk away. Those who rethink and reimagine will grow faster and more profitably.
Augmenting vs. replacing
The report used software engineers as an example – one of the once-lucrative careers that’s being disrupted with no-code tooling. A lot of an engineer’s work is repetitive, which could be handled by agentic AI so the technician can focus on system-level thinking, orchestration and productive and design tasks.
The graph (exhibit 4) in the report is helpful in highlighting how jobs fall on a spectrum. Some roles can be amplified, rebalanced and enabled with AI, while others are substituted or unexposed.
Surprisingly, software engineering headcounts have actually risen in the past three years.
Anthony Pompalino, who we’ve covered before, said he’s changed his mind about how AI will impact jobs.
The number of new college grads who got hired has increased 5.6% over the past 12 months. The WSJ reported AI created 640,000 jobs between 2023-2025 in the U.S., including new white-collar positions such as AI engineer. Pompalino said his portfolio companies are aggressively hiring.
A welcomed narrative change
If AI can make employees more productive, then companies are going to want as many productive units of labor as possible.
“AI appears to be a magical technology that will make companies more productive and more profitable. The net result will be more corporations, more startups, and more jobs. All three are big, positive wins for the American economy,” Pompalino added.
The story behind many of the layoffs to date are bloated companies using AI as a scapegoat. That’s damaging for everyone involved because employees will revolt against the technology and likely the companies that are AI-purists.
While there’s a great deal to unpack in this report, it adds a positive and proactive tone to the AI conversation. For founders, it’s a time to refocus automation on redesign, not just cost reduction, and to prioritize upskilling, reskilling and redeployment.
How's the depth of today's edition?
If one of these stories stuck with you, I’d love to hear which one.
Speak soon,
Amanda
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