Will AI take your job? It’s the question on everyone’s mind—but it might be the wrong question to ask.
In this interview, I talk with Dr. Ben Zweig, Chief Economist at Revelio Labs, about why we need to completely rethink how we understand work in the age of AI.
Ben explains that jobs aren’t indivisible units that either exist or don’t exist, they’re bundles of tasks that are constantly evolving.
The real question isn’t whether AI will replace your job, but which tasks within your job will be automated, and what new opportunities that creates.
We explore the John Henry fallacy, why ATMs actually increased bank teller employment, how job titles often mask dramatic changes in what people actually do, and why firms adopt technology much more slowly than we think.
Ben also shares fascinating insights from labor market data about which jobs are most exposed to AI, why orchestration matters more than execution, and why historical patterns of technological disruption suggest reasons for cautious optimism rather than panic.
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Key Takeaways
Jobs are bundles of tasks, not atomic units—automation affects specific tasks within jobs rather than eliminating entire occupations, which means your job will transform rather than disappear.
ATMs didn’t reduce bank teller jobs because while they automated cash dispensing, they made branches cheaper to operate and freed tellers to do higher-value relationship work—a pattern that repeats across many technologies.
AI is currently better at executing specific tasks than orchestrating workflows, but agentic AI that can coordinate complex sequences of tasks represents a major shift that could change which jobs are most vulnerable.
The “exposure” framework—measuring which jobs have the most tasks that AI can perform—shows knowledge workers are highly exposed, but exposure doesn’t equal displacement because firms adopt technology slowly and workers adapt.
Keynes predicted we’d work 15-hour weeks by 2030 because he underestimated our appetite for consumption and new desires—we don’t run out of things to want, which creates endless demand for human labor in new domains.
Resources
Chapters
Note: Timestamps are approximate and may vary across listening platforms due to dynamically inserted ads.
(0:00) Introduction & Block layoffs
(0:33) Guest introduction: Dr. Ben Zweig
(6:27) The fable of John Henry and the Luddites
(8:51) What is a job? Jobs as bundles of tasks
(10:30) Execution vs. orchestration in the age of AI
(13:19) Why coordination costs matter in the future of work
(15:21) Agentic AI and workflow coordination
(19:20) Automation vs. augmentation: redefining productivity
(22:09) Human advantages and uniquely human work
(26:26) Challenges for younger workers in the AI era
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