Who is pacing this race?

The idea of having a more freeform machine co-worker with whom we can ask natural language questions and who can anticipate our needs is just starting. However, this requires a higher level of digital fluency for us to really find a groove with these machine-coworkers and not be overtaken by them. As I came up in my career, we were taught to “automate ourselves out of a job” to do the next thing. Our skills, desire for change, interest in the business, and work dictated the pace. Today, the pace of automation may not be dictated by us. There is a real risk of jobs going away before we have thought through the next set of problems to solve. If we cannot see around corners, we have not considered our upcoming transition.