Will AI wipe out 50% of entry-level white collar jobs?

#200: Will AI wipe out 50% of entry-level white collar jobs?

Hi Reader,

Before I get into the rest of this email, I just noticed that this is the 200th edition of this newsletter.

That's pretty wild.

Whether you just recently subscribed or you've been reading these for a while, I'd just like to say thank you for lending me a little bit of space in your inbox.

It's a privilege.

Now, onto the matter at hand...

I'm not typically a "newsjacking" guy, but I'm also not typically a TikTok guy, and just look at this video...

So, here's my take on Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's projections that 50% of entry-level white-collar jobs will be gone within 5 years.

Why am I speaking on this? Self-servingly, content production is often called out as a vanishing "entry-level" task, but I think the points below apply broadly.

Currently, AI helps augment the content production process. Many folks think it will fully automate it soon.

As someone who runs a content agency and has been embracing AI like my life (and career) depends on it (it does), I'm not sold on this one yet.

Here's why.

1. Execution time is still a factor

Even with great prompt architecture and optimized workflows, I still need people to help me produce at scale. There's no way I could manage it all myself, even with the help of AI.

This doesn't even account for the upfront legwork that happens pre-production.

Sure, I could churn out hot trash content pretty easily by myself, but that wouldn't help my clients and their businesses. So, it's never going to happen.

Alas, execution time remains a factor.

The same will probably apply in organizations. Is a Director of Marketing going to want to add content production to their daily to-do list? I doubt it.

More to the point, are you, as a coworking operator, going to want to?

2. You still need expertise

AI speeds things up, but creating good content still takes time and skill.

You still need people who know what good looks like, and you need people who know how to use the tools.

And using those tools still takes time.

These last two points still take humans, and are often more "entry-level" endeavors.

Worth noting: AI can now publish your content, though, and I'm very happy about that, but I still need "entry-level" people to run this kind of admin automation, because I don't have time to do it.

3. Quality + strategy still reign supreme

This goes a bit beyond the white-collar jobs topic, but there is a massive difference between content production and content strategy.

Directionless content will never deliver results. Without strategy, production just gets you nowhere faster.

The quality of your content will be more important than ever in the AI era.

Lame, unoriginal, generic content won't get the results you want and will probably be suppressed by the internet overlords.

AI still can't tap into emotion and nuance and fuse it with data, experience, and intuition to create and roll out results-driving strategies.

So, you need a strategist to strategize, and an executional person to use the AI tools for production (plus publishing, distribution, and so on).

Let's be honest. As a business owner, I will gladly adopt any technologies that enable my company to operate more efficiently and profitably, as long as I can continue to deliver quality + results for my clients.

Figuring out how to do that occupies probably half of my workday (and 72% of my waking thoughts + dreams), so I'm certainly not anti-AI.

But, from where I stand now, I don't see doomsday ahead.

Instead, I think that the landscape will change. Entry-level people (and, likewise, seasoned content producers) will need to adapt or die (metaphorically, of course) in terms of learning to use AI to handle execution.

Could I be wrong? Definitely. This might age like milk, and I’ll be back on here in six months, eating (drinking?) my words. But this is where I’m at right now.

What do you think AI means for entry-level white-collar jobs? Are they toast, or will AI just become another tool we use every day, at every point in our career, just like the internet?

Hit reply and let me know what you think!

Talk soon.

Taylor

P.S.

If you're interested in learning how to create content that makes an impact in the AI era, let's chat. You can book a free consultation with me today.