AI Is Coming For Your Job: Just Not In The Way You Think
Why Creativity Is the Last Superpower
I recently went through a thought experiment on what defines talent. It's an interesting thing to ponder in this age of AI.
When someone said “that person’s talented,” I think what they really meant was: this person has both skill and creativity. A killer combo. You didn’t just know how to do the thing, you knew how to do it with flair, with edge, with insight.
Take photography. A truly talented person didn’t just “point and shoot,” but “framed the moment, delivered mood with lighting, or told a story.” The same holds true even of the legal profession, sure, you can memorize the statutes, but talent was the ability to bend them (ethically!) into clever arguments that swayed a courtroom. Rinse and repeat for Wall Street traders, coders, architects. Talent was knowing the craft (skill) and seeing around the corners (creativity).
Fast forward to now. The last three years have seen AI go from novelty to necessity. And the next three? If it doesn’t scare you a little, you’re not paying attention. We’re living through a seismic shift in how skill is valued and how fast it can be replicated.
But as I rounded out my thought experiment I developed a different take: AI hasn’t destroyed talent. It’s just reshaped it.
The AI Skill Explosion
Today’s AI is a skill vending machine. Want to generate a moody photo of a robot smoking a cigar on Mars? Cool, two prompts and a click. Need a chunk of JavaScript? AI's got you. Legal summaries? Financial modeling? Radiology scans? All on tap.
If it feels like everything you spent years mastering is suddenly available to anyone with an API key... you’re not wrong.
And yes, sometimes AI doesn’t just keep up, it outruns you. It can be faster, cheaper, maybe even more accurate. I’ve seen firsthand how AI can blow past bottlenecks and put seasoned experts on the defensive. Especially in fields where the job is mainly “do (insert task) efficiently, repeat.”
AI's Creativity Blindspot?
Here’s the kicker: AI might do the task, but it still doesn’t imagine the outcome.
Case in point: image generation. These tools are powerful, but drop them in front of someone with no visual instinct, and you’ll get a mess of aesthetic spaghetti. It takes creative vision, a strong sense of taste, clear intent, and storytelling ability to turn AI from a parlor trick into a tool of expression.
Same goes for software. A vibe coder with a great idea can now spin up a prototype without a technical cofounder. But without a sense of design, utility, or user psychology? It still flops.
The Great Talent Flip
So what’s actually happening?
Talented people are getting supercharged. The best creatives, engineers, analysts: these folks are faster and more powerful now. Their ability to translate ideas into execution just leveled up.
Creatives without skills are breaking in. Suddenly, you don’t need a CS degree to build an app or an MFA to make compelling visuals. AI closes the skill gap for anyone with a clear vision and creativity.
That’s wild. We’re watching the barriers crash down in real time. And depending on which side of the barrier you’re standing on, it’s either thrilling or terrifying.
So Who Should Be Nervous?
Here’s the uncomfortable truth.
There’s a group of professionals out there who’ve built careers on deep domain knowledge and tool-specific mastery, with little room or need for creativity. Think: Salesforce admins who can click the right boxes, X-ray techs who follow protocol, spreadsheet warriors in middle management.
These roles, high on precision, low on innovation, are squarely in AI’s sights.
And look, I’m not saying these folks are talentless. But I am saying that if your edge at work is all skill and no creativity... now’s a good time to pivot.
Time for a Talent Check-In
Here's my recipe for the future. Ask yourself:
Does my job rely on creative problem-solving?
Do I regularly imagine new ways to get better outcomes?
Am I valued for my ideas, or just my execution?
If you’re checking "yes" to the first two, you’re golden. Lean in on AI augmentation, find ways to supercharge what you do with AI.
If you are answering "yes" to the third item here, it’s time to double down on the one thing AI still can’t fake: human imagination. Find ways to be creative. Even better, become the leader in using AI to help take over executing your daily tasks, make yourself invaluable to the organization as a leader in AI driven transformation.
The key thing to takeaway is this: AI knows the past way better than you do. It’s trained on history, patterns, precedent. But we write the future. And the folks who can dream up something new, can see around corners? They're still the ones setting the direction, not just pushing the buttons.
So yeah, skill still matters. But in this new world, creativity is the last superpower.