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For a while, the comforting narrative went like this: AI wont take your job. But someone using AI will. So, all you had to do was to use AI, and even if you lost your job you could take someone elses? The idea that you only needed to worry about AI secondhandvia another humanis in fact somewhat naive. AI is coming for your job directly. Not with fanfare or grand announcements, but through silent, pervasive creep: software agents booking meetings, writing reports, sending personalized emails, making decisions. There are even tools to send your digital clone to videoconference meetings, without people even noticing its not the real youyes, an AI deepfake of your professional self capable of intervening exactly as you would, if not more cleverly. Soon, fully autonomous agents will do entire workflows without human hand-holding. So, if you are an ambitious knowledge worker the question is no longer whether AI will automate aspects of your job. Its whether youll have the initiative and creativity to out-evolve the automation. The more you use AI, the more vulnerable you become Heres the paradox you need to internalize: the more you leverage AI to become hyperproductive, the more you expose yourself to being replaced by it. Its no different from making your memory or spatial awareness redundant by relying too much on Google Maps or Waze, or abandoning any hopes of memorizing anything because you can always reach for your smartphone. In an age where AI can handle the bulk of our cognitive labor, we risk intellectual atrophy. When Scott Galloway called AI corporate Ozempic he was onto something: a tool that suppresses the need to think, even as it sharpens our output. Our ancestors didnt need gyms or Pilates classes to stay fit; survival took care of that. But we might soon require the cognitive equivalentstructured, even artificial, forms of mental exertionjust to keep our brains from becoming intellectually obese. Efficiency is a trap. If your value to an organization is framed entirely in how quickly and predictably you can produce outputs, congratulationsyouve just turned yourself into a template. And templates are easy to automate. Does this mean you shouldnt use AI? Absolutely not. It means you have to reinvest your newfound time intelligently. Most organizations havent yet figured out what to do with the massive time savings AI is generatinglargely because managers, bless their quarterly obsessed hearts, lack the imagination to redesign jobs beyond output metrics. A recent survey by Deloitte found that while 94% of executives believe AI will dramatically shift work models, only 17% have a clear plan for what that shift actually looks like. Which brings us to the golden opportunity: you dont need to wait for your manager to reimagine your job. You can start now. Indeed, here are 10 strategies to de-risk being automated by AI: 10 Ways to Avoid Being Automated by AI Reinvest time saved by AI into higher-value, human-centric tasks. Use automation to eliminate drudgery, but spend that freed-up time deepening client relationships, mentoring colleagues, or solving problems that require empathy or judgment. Bridge communication gaps. Act as the translator between technical and nontechnical teams. AI still struggles with nuance, humor, and reading the emotional temperature of a room. Combine skills in unique and strategic ways. Be a generalist with spikessomeone who blends multiple competencies across fields, forming a professional fingerprint that’s hard to replicate. Make yourself unpredictable. Routine and predictability are blueprints for automation. Engineer variability into your tasks. Experiment. Cross disciplines. Add complexity that AI can’t model easily. Strengthen emotional intelligence. Cultivate empathy, persuasion, adaptability, and the ability to resolve conflictscore human capabilities that are still well outside AI’s reach. Own niche domain knowledge. Carve out expertise in verticals where context and nuance matterareas where even the best AI stumbles due to lack of real-world grounding. Invest in your personal brand. Write, speak, and share your thinking. Visibility creates optionality. People hire (and retain) people they know, not templates they can replace. Master AI tools in your domain. Dont compete with AIpromote it. Be the go-to person for AI literacy in your field. People who understand the tools are less likely to be replaced by them. Be the human-in-the-loop. AI often needs human oversightediting, refining, validating. These judgment calls are increasingly valuable. Stay curious and adaptable. Treat this era not as a tech shift but a cognitive revolution. Your ability to unlearn and relearn will be more important than any static skill set. Evolve faster than your environment You cant sit this out. You cant wait and see. The dodo bird strategystay passive, hope predators ignore youdidnt work out great for the dodo. Nor will it for the knowledge worker who thinks “AI-proofing” means hiding behind corporate inertia. You need to evolve faster than your environment. That means embracing AI as a tool, even as you actively cultivate the parts of yourself AI cant touch. Learn to become a less predictable, more creative version of yourself or be ready to face automation. The choice, for now, is still yours. So, where does that leave you? Somewhere between irreplaceable and obsolete, depending on what you choose to do next.
Category:
E-Commerce
Since ChatGPT sparked the generative AI revolution in November 2022, interacting with AI has felt like using a digital confession boothprivate, intimate, and shielded from public view (unless you choose to share). Thats about to change dramatically with Metas rollout of social features in its stand-alone AI app, released last week. Those quiet queriesWhats this embarrassing rash? or How can I tell my wife I dont love her anymore?could soon be visible to anyone scrolling through the apps Discover tab. If society is still grappling with how to navigate artificial intelligence, Metas changes risk throwing even more confusion into the mix. For tech-savvy users, the shift from private to public might be manageabletheyll at least be aware its happening. But most people arent monitoring every policy tweak from Big Tech, and may have no idea that what once felt like a private conversation with AI could now become public fodder, ripe for ridicule. (Meta did not respond to Fast Companys request for comment.) AI has quickly become a hybrid of search engine and digital confidant. Remember the embarrassment of accidentally posting a private message publicly? Now imagine that happening on a massive scale, as millions unknowingly expose deeply personal questions and experiences. This isnt a hypothetical concern. Posts from Meta AI users are already surfacing in the apps social feed, including verbal queries asked via voice mode, like one users question about folic acid, which also revealed her age and postmenopausal status. The Discover feed is shaping up to be a slow-motion privacy disaster, as users unintentionally share raw, unfiltered pieces of their livesfar from the curated, polished image weve grown used to displaying on social media. Meta said in a press release that its AI app aims to connect you with the people and things you care about, and calls the Discover feed a place to share and explore how others are using AI. While the company insists that nothing is shared unless you choose to post it, the app nonetheless nudges people to shareand oversharewhether they fully realize it or not.
Category:
E-Commerce
Hello and welcome to Modern CEO! Im Stephanie Mehta, CEO and chief content officer of Mansueto Ventures. Each week this newsletter explores inclusive approaches to leadership drawn from conversations with executives and entrepreneurs, and from the pages of Inc. and Fast Company. If you received this newsletter from a friend, you can sign up to get it yourself every Monday morning. CEOs and other business leaders are scrambling to understand how customers might respond to financial uncertainty brought on by tariffs and other factors roiling the markets. Early signs are not great: the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index in April fell for the fourth straight month, and the Conference Boards April Expectations Index, which measures short-term outlook each month, dropped to its lowest level since October 2011. In the travel industry, some executives are bracing for a hard landing: Southwest Airlines, American Airlines, and Alaska Air recently withdrew 2025 earnings guidance, while United Airlines took the unusual step of offering two sets of profit guidance, depending on whether or not the U.S. enters a recession. A shipshape outlook So, what to make of cruise company Royal Caribbean Groups rosy forecast? In late April, the company reported better-than-expected first quarter earnings and increased the midpoint of its full-year guidance for adjusted earnings by 3.8 %. (Rival Carnival Corp. also beat earnings expectations and boosted guidance, but Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings missed its numbers and signaled softening demand.) In 2024, Royal Caribbean Group reported net income of $2.9 billion on revenue of $16.5 billion. CEO Jason Liberty says his cautiously optimistic outlook validates the consumers appetite for experiences. They treasure vacations, and theyre going to lean more [into experiences] than into buying stuff, he says. Indeed, consumer discretionary spending on experiences, which fell dramatically during the pandemic, has reached an all-time high, according to McKinsey & Co., while spending on things, which ticked up during lockdown, is down again. (Not surprisingly, the pandemic was a low point for the travel industry; Royal Caribbean voluntarily suspended cruise operations and reported a loss of $5.8 billion in 2020.) Experiences arent recession-proof, of course, and theyre not immune to tariff impacts. The United States Tour Operators Association, a travel trade organization, says its research arm predicts that higher import taxes will result in price inflation and declines in tourist sentiment, particularly among international travelers to the U.S. Royal Caribbeans own data, fielded in April, found that 7 out of 10 consumers intend to spend the same or more on leisure travel in the coming 12 months, and that 9 out of 10 consumers are looking for value when making vacation plans. Steady as she goes Liberty is quick to point out that value is different from low-budget. Rather, he says, travelers may value the convenience of being able to access dining and entertainment in the same place, or they may appreciate being able to see multiple destinations in one trip. And Royal Caribbean, which operates cruises under the Royal Caribbean, Celebrity, and Silversea brands, is adding more experiences to its portfolio. In December, the company will open its first Royal Beach Club, an all-inclusive property in the Bahamas that its passengers can access via an island day pass thats part of a plan to grow from two to seven private destinations by 2027. Liberty says Royal Caribbean doesnt compare itself to other cruise companies; the company aspires to measure up to travel destinations known for their dining, amenities, and activities. If you look at our Oasis Class ships or Perfect Daya private island with a water park and a zipline, multiple pools, and separate section for adults”you may ask: why did they go there? We went there to take share from Orlando, he says. Some ships have added Broadway shows and enhanced gaming activities to compete with Las Vegas, Liberty adds. And while a cruise isnt exactly for the budget-conscious consumertravelers pay $576 per person for a three-night getaway on Royal Caribbean’s Utopia of the Seas, with fares climbing to $6,350 per person for a 12-day trip around the Iberian Peninsula and Mediterranean on Silverseas Silver DawnLiberty notes that Royal Caribbean travel is about 20% cheaper than comparable land-based experiences. If water slides, gaming rooms, and cabarets seem like a lot to fit on a ship, keep in mind that Royal Caribbeans Oasis Class ships, for example, are more than 1,000 feet long and can accommodate 5,600 guests. These are floating cities, Liberty says. Everything that can happen in the city happens on a ship. Everything you have to plan for on a city, whether its power, whether its sanitation, whether medicaland then all the experiences that take placeweve got to be able to do that. Whats your experience? Is your company in the experience business? Are you seeing any softness in consumer demand as a result of bearish sentiment? Or are you, like Royal Caribbeans Liberty, cautiously optimistic? Send your thoughts to me at stephaniemehta@mansueto.com. Id like to share your examples in a future newsletter. Read more: the experience economy The 10 most innovative live events and experiences companies of 2025 Why Airbnb, Target, and Walmart are betting on the experience economy Read the 1998 piece that coined the term experience economy How to get ahead in the experience economy
Category:
E-Commerce
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