By: Kate Sarmiento
AI isn’t just on the horizon; it’s already here. Customer service bots are quickly fielding questions at impressive speeds. Algorithms are efficiently trading stocks, often at speeds that humans can’t match. Predictive AI is increasingly reorganizing supply chains with a level of precision that can improve efficiency. Whole departments of people are now being complemented by a few lines of code. Exciting? Yes. Unsettling? Perhaps.
As an agency owner, I feel the tug-of-war every day. AI is both thrilling and a little terrifying at the same time. On one hand, efficiency looks like a shiny prize: lower costs, faster timelines, sharper insights. The fear is certainly real… a single software update can sometimes feel like it could impact years of job security.
The stats don’t help calm nerves. Goldman Sachs estimates that 300 million full-time jobs worldwide could be affected by automation. This is concerning. But hold the panic button: the World Economic Forum’s 2025 outlook suggests that by 2030, AI-driven shifts could create 170 million jobs while potentially displacing around 92 million. Translation: the future may not be about jobs vanishing entirely, but about jobs transforming.
We have been here before. When the internet became mainstream, companies didn’t just hand their operations over to Internet Explorer (thank God). They retrained people, rewired workflows, and made new roles that are now second nature.
AI is today’s internet moment. Reskilling isn’t just a good idea; it’s increasingly becoming mandatory.
IBM’s 2023 Global AI Adoption Index found that 40 percent of the global workforce will need reskilling in the next three years because of AI and automation. That isn’t a footnote in a report; it’s a signal that adaptation is essential for the future.
Reskilling doesn’t mean pulling employees away from their current jobs. It means creating tools and processes that help them evolve with the work. The forward-thinking companies are embedding learning into daily tasks: internal hubs, fast interactive modules, and real-time training woven into workflows. Adapting isn’t just a side project; it has become the job.
At Don’t Be A Little Pitch (DBALP), AI is like the brainstorming buddy who never gets tired. It gives us campaign ideas in ten minutes, and then we take the best two and give them personality. It runs quick scans of what competitors are doing, so we can sharpen our edge without wasting too much time. The point is not that AI saves us work. The point is that it frees up more time for us to do the work that only humans can: telling better stories, connecting with people, and knowing when a pitch needs cheeky humor instead of a white paper.
The biggest myth? That AI is here to replace us. This isn’t entirely true. AI is fantastic at automating routine work, but relationships, creativity, and judgment still belong to humans.
McKinsey’s 2023 report suggests that companies that combine human judgment with AI insights are more likely to outperform peers in revenue growth. Why? Because machines can devour terabytes of data in seconds, but they can’t crack a joke in a pitch meeting, spot when a client is holding back tears, or know when to call a journalist instead of emailing.
Take healthcare. AI can flag anomalies in scans with remarkable accuracy (Source: Cureus, 2024). But it is not AI delivering difficult news, comforting a family, or weighing messy ethical trade-offs. Those jobs require human intuition.
In PR, AI drafts press releases, scans databases, and analyzes sentiment. But it cannot tell you when to sprinkle humor into a pitch, when to play it safe, or when to go bold. At DBALP, we treat AI like an eager intern. It drafts, it organizes, it crunches. But the final call, the knowing wink, the playful subject line, the gutsy hook… that’s us.
Leaders who thrive will not obsess over “what jobs AI will take.” They will ask, “Where can humans and AI make each other look brilliant?”
AI is not just changing the to-do list. It is redefining what “work” even means. If a task that took six hours now takes six minutes, measuring output by hours doesn’t always make sense. The new measure is value: creativity, adaptability, and problem-solving. Companies that stay fixated on clock-watching may find themselves falling behind, while those focused on outcomes may find themselves leading the way.
The proof is already starting to show up:
- Finance: Algorithmic trading is faster and sharper than ever. AI boosts predictive accuracy, but human traders still steady the ship when chaos hits. Machines crunch, people calm.
- Retail: AI-driven demand forecasting cuts stockouts by about 30 percent and overstocking by 25 percent. Automated systems slash response times by a third and resolve issues up to 50 percent faster. That frees employees from endless apologies about missing inventory so they can focus on loyalty and relationships.
- Education: AI tutors can personalize lessons to each student, something teachers can only dream of in big classrooms. But teachers are still the ones inspiring, mentoring, and shaping character. No app can replace a raised eyebrow that says, “I know you didn’t do the reading.”
The pattern is becoming clear. Machines bring speed, scale, and accuracy. Humans bring meaning, trust, and creativity. Put them together, and work gets redefined.
Leaders can’t just download a shiny AI tool and call it a strategy. They need frameworks. Here are three that could work:
The 70/20/10 Rule for Skills Development
- Seventy percent: AI training built right into workflows.
- Twenty percent: peer-to-peer learning and mentorship.
- Ten percent: formal learning.
This mix keeps learning grounded in reality and avoids the curse of abstract theory.
Human and Machine Task Mapping
Break work into three categories:
- Machine-first for repetitive tasks.
- Human-first for creativity, empathy, and strategy.
- Collaborative for the sweet spot where humans and machines outperform either working alone.
Build a Culture of Curiosity
The strongest AI strategy isn’t technical. It is cultural. Teams who feel safe experimenting, asking questions, and sharing what they learn tend to adapt faster. Leaders who reward curiosity (even when it fails) build resilience that no competitor can out-code.
AI is no longer an “if.” It is a “how.” The companies that thrive won’t necessarily be the ones with the shiniest software licenses. They will be the ones who create cultures where people and machines lift each other higher.
As leaders, we have two choices. We can let fear fester, or we can shift our thinking and view AI as a collaborator. We can build confidence in our teams, skill them up, and create an environment where experimenting is the norm.
At Don’t Be A Little Pitch (DBALP), this is already our reality. AI is the extra set of hands that helps us brainstorm, plan, and spy on competitors while we focus on what matters: bold ideas, sharp storytelling, and timing that lands a pitch. It is the assistant we’ll choose to keep around, but never hand the mic to.
The future of work is not man or machine. It is man with machine. That pairing is not just powerful; it can be unstoppable.
The companies that win will not be the ones chasing shiny objects, but the ones with cultures built for humans and machines to push each other further.
