Why the middle is exactly what AI took
The tasks that stay with people are not safe because they are mysteriously human. They are safe because no one agreed to let a model carry the blame.
It is worth being precise about why some work is safe and some is not.
It is worth being precise about why some work is safe and some is not.
The tasks AI now does well are the middle ones. Drafting. Processing data. Spotting patterns. The recent economic reports point straight at these.
The tasks that stay with people involve coordinating across teams, giving authorization, and absorbing the cost when things go wrong.
These are not safe because they are mysteriously human. They are safe for a plain reason. No client, no regulator, and no board has agreed to let a model carry the blame.
Not by magic. No client, regulator, or board has agreed to let a model.
It is worth being precise about why some work is safe and some is not.
The recent economic reports point straight at these.
The tasks that stay with people involve coordinating across teams, giving authorization, and absorbing the cost when things go wrong.
So the skill to build is not being wise. That is too vague to act on.
The skill is to make better decisions at the two ends, and to use AI to raise the quality of everything in between. A strategist who frames the right question and holds the team to the answer is worth more than one who spends weeks on analysis a model now does in minutes.
The question is not whether AI can do your job. The question is whether you are standing at one of the two ends where decisions are made, or still in the middle, where the automation is.
The recent economic reports point straight at these.
Not by magic. No client, regulator, or board has agreed to let a model carry the blame.
The tasks that stay with people are not safe because they are mysteriously human. They are safe because no one agreed to let a model carry the blame.
This is the short version. Read the full-length essay, “Human, not AI: make sure you’re at either end of a decision”.
This issue is part of Everybody's Smart, a newsletter on taste, judgment, AI, culture, cognition, and the future of professional work. New issues every 2 to 3 weeks, free on LinkedIn.
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