Will AI Reduce Ageism in Tech?

Every day brings more news about layoffs, corporations planning to do more with less, reducing levels and moving managers to IC roles.

It is not just AI that may be at the root. Many companies may be trying to wiggle out of the tight spot they find themselves in due to COVID-era hiring spree(while using AI as a motivating slogan in front of investors).

But AI does have a role to play when it comes to companies intending to do more with less, as the share of AI-produced output increases over human-produced one.

The increasing share of AI-produced output is one critical thread driving the narrative. The second narrative thread seems to be the treatment that AI tools are receiving. Many of those on the leading edge, such as Simon Willison, have shown how they are using AI coding tools as a “Junior Developer”.

If, increasingly, the code, the designs, the presentations, the banners, landing pages, etc. can all be automated away using AI, then the real value comes from high-leverage decisions, which in many cases are dependent on skills, wisdom, judgment developed over many many years.

Will this start a trend that suddenly values experience more than it has been the case in tech? Is it possible that suddenly early career folks are left without the opportunities that the experienced folks had in developing those high-leverage skills?