AI *Is* Coming For Your Job?

Yes, But There's More to the Story

I (and many others) have been saying it for some time now: "AI isn't coming for your job, someone skilled with AI is coming for it."

It's a line that resonates — I've watched people nod along in meetings and conferences. But last week, Fiverr CEO Michael Kaufmann posted something on X that made me rethink this framing. His take was more direct, less comforting, and frankly, more immediately true for certain kinds of work than my usual spiel.

What struck me about Kaufmann's post wasn't just what he said, but who was saying it. There's a certain irony when the CEO of Fiverr — effectively an early form of "contractor AI" itself — warns about AI replacing jobs. This isn't fear-mongering from someone with no skin in the game. It's a clear-eyed assessment from someone whose business has been a harbinger of workplace transformation.

The Fiverr Reality Check

Fiverr built its business by connecting people who need specific, often one-off tasks done with contractors who can handle them quickly and affordably. Sound familiar? It's essentially what we're now doing with Claude, ChatGPT, and other AI systems, just with different economics and speed.

I've used Fiverr for years — data processing, quick copy edits, even some creative work when time was tight. All of these tasks are now done for me by AI. And I don't see that changing. I'm not alone in this shift.

What Kaufmann understands is that for many types of standardized knowledge work that have been Fiverr's bread and butter, the AI replacement isn't coming — it's here. The transition happened faster than most of us expected, and with surprisingly good results (not for Fiverr, of course).

Two Layers of Impact

The thread feels more immediate for those providing contract knowledge work. If you've been earning a living doing relatively straightforward writing, data entry, basic coding tasks, or "creative assistance," you're already competing with AI systems that cost pennies per task.

Two factors make this group especially vulnerable. First, let's be fair — many contractors aren't exceptional at what they do (though some are very good). When you're merely competent rather than outstanding, you're an easier target for replacement. Second, and more importantly, you don't have the institutional context that's hard to replicate. You don't know the company's history, internal politics, or unwritten rules. You're largely a straight economic equation once you pass a threshold of competence. And that's a VERY precarious position now.

But for those of us who provide strategic operational value, my original quote still largely holds. If you're creating architecture diagrams for complex systems, managing cross-functional teams, or making high-stakes business decisions, you're not being replaced outright — but your effectiveness will absolutely be determined by how well you integrate AI into your workflow.

For this second group, it's still about augmentation more than replacement. But make no mistake: it's absolutely incumbent on us to understand how AI fits in our workplace. If we don't, either we or our businesses will eventually be replaced by someone who does.

What AI Still Gets Wrong

There are many things current AI systems are genuinely bad at, and will remain so for the foreseeable future:

• Real judgment — AI has no skin in the game, no personal stakes, and no intuitive understanding of consequences

• Taste — Despite impressive approximations, AI doesn't actually know what feels right beyond statistical patterns

• Novel thinking — True innovation still comes from humans connecting disparate experiences in unexpected ways. By definition, LLMs solve problems with predictability — they're optimizing for the most likely next token, not the surprising one

• Managing teams — AI can't inspire loyalty, mediate conflicts, or understand the complex interpersonal dynamics that make teams work

• Building relationships — Business ultimately happens between people who trust each other

These limitations aren't theoretical. I've watched AI produce technically sound but strategically bizarre recommendations. I've seen it generate content that hits all the right notes but somehow misses the music.

The Real Job Security Test

Here's what's interesting though: even before AI, we've always been hired to provide these human elements. If you weren't bringing judgment, taste, innovation, leadership or relationship skills to the table, your job was already at risk — from outsourcing, from automation, from basic cost-cutting.

The real dividing line isn't between jobs that will or won't be replaced by AI. It's between people who provide genuine strategic value and those who don't. AI just accelerates and clarifies this distinction.

Practical Next Steps

So what does this mean in practice? A few things:

1. Don't compete where AI excels — If your entire value proposition is doing something AI already does well, it's time to move upstream

2. Develop taste and judgment — Focus on building the skills to know when AI output is good and when it misses the mark

3. Learn to partner with AI effectively — The most valuable people will be those who know exactly when and how to use AI tools, and when to rely on human capabilities

4. Double down on relationship skills — The more AI handles transactional work, the more premium will be placed on trust, empathy, and collaboration

5. Become AI-fluent — Not necessarily as a programmer, but as someone who understands capabilities, limitations, and how to translate between human and machine thinking

Where This Leaves Us

I've spent the last two decades watching technology transform how we work. Each wave — from web applications to mobile to cloud — has eliminated some jobs while creating others. AI is no different, except perhaps in its breadth of impact.

What's different this time isn't that "AI is coming for your job" — it's that AI is coming for aspects of everyone's job. The question isn't whether you'll be replaced, but which parts of your work will be augmented or automated, and how you'll evolve to create value in this new reality.

My revised take: AI isn't coming for your job as much as it's coming for the routine parts of everyone's job. Your future depends not on fighting this shift, but on moving toward the parts of work that remain stubbornly, valuably human.

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Hat tip to The Neuron for highlighting the Kaufmann thread — one of my favorite AI newsletters for staying on top of these shifts.