AI Won’t Replace You. It Will Change Your Job

April 24, 2025

Back in 2016, several luminaries in the AI space authored a report about the ways AI would impact humanity over the next 100 years. The authors posited what was then considered a shocking view on the future of work. AI, they said, would replace more tasks than jobs. Nearly a decade later, that view seems largely to have held.

But the workplace is changing. The rise of agentic AI in the workplace means that a new kind of professional agility is taking shape, one that blends machines’ autonomy with human judgment.

Here, IEEE Member Saptarshi Ghosh, IEEE Senior Members Eleanor Watson and Arpita Soni, and 2024 IEEE President Thomas Coughlin discuss how agentic AI in the workplace could shape career development and the strategies professionals can take to adapt.

In what specific ways will agentic AI most significantly augment the capabilities of professionals in the coming decade?

Ghosh: “Agentic AI excels at performing complex, multi-step tasks with minimal human oversight. These systems can maintain long-term goals, manage intricate processes and track progress over time while continuously adapting to changing conditions. By operating independently, AI agents free professionals from constant supervision of routine processes, allowing them to focus on higher-value strategic activities.”

How should career development programs evolve in response to increasingly autonomous AI in the workplace?

Watson: “Career development needs to evolve to match the speed at which AI is advancing. First, programs should focus on building uniquely human skills like creativity, emotional intelligence and critical thinking. Programs also need to support lifelong learning rather than just occasional certifications.

Interdisciplinary training is another key approach. For example, marketing professionals can benefit from learning data analytics, while engineers could study AI ethics. This crossover training ensures professionals are ready for roles that blend human judgment with AI-driven insights. Professionals can thereby remain influential as strategic partners entwined with AI.”

What unique skills or competencies should professionals develop to effectively collaborate with agentic AI systems?

Soni: “Career programs should emphasize and focus on collaboration with AI systems, particularly on integrating and promoting AI literacy. Professionals will still need to undergo training in technology like data analysis, problem-solving and requirement analysis to support the AI capabilities.”

What misconceptions do you see most frequently about the role of autonomous AI in the workplace, and how can businesses clarify these misunderstandings?

Coughlin: “The biggest and most dangerous misconception would be that AI can do the thinking for you. People need to develop critical thinking skills. Critical thinking is very valuable, as is the ability to recognize when an AI is making those mistakes.”

What concerns do you have about the growing use of AI in the workplace?

Watson: “There’s a growing concern around algorithmic management, where AI systems increasingly control and dictate workplace activities, potentially diminishing workers’ autonomy. Businesses must carefully avoid ‘robotizing’ jobs or unintentionally usurping human agency. Instead, AI should be introduced in ways that enhance and support human decision-making rather than replacing it.

Businesses can address this issue by openly discussing AI’s limitations, potential errors and the necessity of human oversight also builds realistic expectations and trust.”

Learn More: Peter Stone led the group that wrote the AI100 report released in 2016. The cohort of researchers tried to predict the ways that AI would influence people, community and societies, over the next century. He reflects on those predictions in a recent article for IEEE Intelligent Systems.