Tell an IT fresh graduate: “After three years of studying coding, congratulations — your skills are now ready to be replaced by AI!”
This isn’t just an IT joke. The same ominous shadow hangs over accountants, graphic designers, copywriters, and many others. You can find Forbes listing out jobs at risk of being replaced by AI. As much as we love AI for making work easier, the fear remains: will it eventually take over our jobs?
AI might not fully replace human workers (at least not yet for now), but it’s already reshaping the demand. A company which used to hire five copywriters might now operate just as efficiently with two people paired with a lightning-fast generative AI. And in many such teams, there is no surprise if AI is the top performer.
The value of human professional knowledge seems to be fading. More and more employees are reduced to “AI operators.” Instead of mastering Photoshop, a beginner with basic photography can prompt AI to generate and touch up images. Instead of meticulously crunching numbers, a junior clerk can automate clean balance sheets with AI’s help.
Even my boss recently showed me how realistic AI-generated videos have evolved with Google’s Veo 3 entering the game, which means my job as a videographer might soon be on the chopping block (uh-oh).
If employers focus purely on efficiency and profit, then AI is the ideal employee: fast, tireless, hyper-capable and all for the cost of a monthly subscription fee. No minimum wage, no salary negotiations, no sick days, and no office politics.
But should the workplace only be about profit? Or do businesses also carry a social responsibility — to create employment opportunities, to provide livelihoods?
If I were an employer, I think I’d still hire people. Not out of pity, but from a belief in human dignity and community. Work is more than the output; it’s part of how we make everyone feel included and can contribute to society..
It reminds me of a line from Rise of the Planet of the Apes: “Apes. Together. Strong.” Maybe it's time we remember — Humans. Together. Strong. Because if we don't stand with one another, we risk being replaced by something that is far more advanced than us.
Hoh Chee Meng (messihoh2003@gmail.com) is a content creator under the Newswav Creator programme, where you get to express yourself, be a citizen journalist, and at the same time monetize your content & reach millions of users on Newswav. Log in to creator.newswav.com and become a Newswav Creator now!
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