Reviewing my conversations with friends, I noticed that I started using AI exactly 2 years ago, in April 2023. Since then, it has become one of the tools I use on a daily basis in my professional life to write code, review my texts, generate images, etc.
It has been said that AI was going to reshape the workplace and make a lot of jobs obsolete.
Besides the fact that I am living in a remote area, almost at the end of the world, I am sort of working as a hermit and through the years I lost touch with the corporate world so I am wondering what is happening in your area.
Wherever you’re working, have you personally seen people being replaced by AI?
In my experience, it’s less about AI walking in and taking over someone’s desk.
For example:
Content & Marketing: I’ve seen companies reduce headcount or hire fewer juniors because tools like ChatGPT/Gemini help small teams produce more content faster.
QA & Testing: tools like Testim, Katalon and even GitHub Copilot for unit testing have sped up a lot of mundane testing tasks.
I use AI almost daily, both at work and for finding information and it really helps me be more efficient. I’ve heard a lot about AI replacing jobs but personally, I haven’t seen it happen yet.
do you think the impact of AI replacing jobs might be happening more subtly rather than through outright layoffs? Like, maybe tasks are getting automated bit by bit, reducing the need to hire more people rather than directly firing them?
Absolutely – many companies are integrating AI in place of human roles. For instance, BT plans to replace around 10,000 customer‑service positions with AI‑driven systems by 2030 . In healthcare, AI chatbots and virtual agents have supplanted numerous customer‑service reps, boosting efficiency but reducing headcount.
Yes – many firms quietly automate and slow hiring rather than mass firing. Some like Klarna paused recruitment entirely a year ago, letting attrition shrink staff by 20 % while AI covers routine tasks.
I’ve already seen some sites that have switched to full AI tech support. It’s just terrible and doesn’t make sense, because such things should be done by humans and not by AI, especially when it’s poorly configured and just learning. Yes, there are people there, and apparently there are 2 people in total who answer questions and are ready to help, and then you have to wait a week for an answer somewhere.
The reason for my original post - perhaps I wasn’t clear enough, or the conversation got derailed — was to hear about firsthand experiences of people being replaced by AI, or directly witnessing workers replaced by AI.
Like you, I’ve read vague comments about this happening, but rarely with concrete examples.
You mentioned healthcare or “many firms”, but could you specify a particular institution or role where this occurred?
I’m trying to separate speculation from actual cases.