#200 Will AI Replace Jobs? (05/04/2026)

Image: This is an icon for an internal app I created using AI Vibe Coding. Can you guess what kind of app it is? A few years ago, due to the pandemic, both adults and children had a work-from-home arrangement. Even after COVID, since 2023, the work-from-home trend hasn't completely ended. Many companies have found that partial work-from-home is an effective way to retain employees, make the company more attractive, save costs, and accommodate employees who might be immigrating. As a result, work-from-home is still being used by various companies I've encountered, big and small. However, my company recently implemented AI (note: many companies nowadays like to boast about how much AI they use, as if it's a trend everyone must follow. I'm not one of them. My situation, as you'd know from reading my journals over the past six months, is that my initial intention was just to do product development. But to go further, I needed to not only be good at product conceptualization but also excel in all aspects. And with limited funds, AI is the best and most future-proof method. So, I spent time researching and implementing it myself, using my rudimentary ICT knowledge).

However, during my implementation, I realized that the prevalence of AI in the past two years means that, in the near future, it's highly possible, as Elon Musk suggested, that some jobs will disappear, and some people will be replaced. This is especially true for what I see in retail: backend colleagues responsible for picking and packing goods won't be replaced; in fact, their work might even become easier with AI (if employers develop solutions for them, it could be much easier). Frontline colleagues in retail stores also won't be replaced because those roles require real people. But those in supporting positions in between might be at higher risk, such as those who arrange things, coordinate, and those in customer service/customer support/internal support, accounting, and finance. These positions, because they lack the advantage of actual face-to-face interaction when not working in the office, are even more susceptible to being replaced by AI. But it's not necessarily all negative. If an individual can bring more work and output value to the company than one person typically would, then it should be fine. However, if the company is a small to medium-sized enterprise and the position doesn't require much, I think AI will indeed reduce the workforce, and Elon Musk's prediction will come true.

I believe that in the future, even face-to-face jobs might be replaced by robots. We are in an era of rapid development. As a small business, we cannot simply follow what others do, nor can we blindly use AI just because others say so. We need to evaluate where our value to the market lies.