Career Success in the AI Era

The latest GRIT survey features a rapid intense interest in learning. This inflection seems to be related to rapid advancements in AI that will alter the way we create, analyze, and activate insights.

The sudden interest in learning is warranted. In March 2023, researchers from Wharton and OpenAI estimated that 75% of survey researchers’ jobs are exposed to automation by AI. My own experience utilizing AI tracks with this estimate. With several important caveats, many of the day-to-day tasks of a researcher, including research design and analysis, can or will be completed by supervised AI agents within the year. 

The AI models released over the past 18 months are incredible; their abilities to grow large amounts of information surpass human capability. In addition, firms (including Fuel Cycle) are developing agentic AI that handoff tasks to one another, enabling AI bots to complete well-defined tasks in an autonomous chain. This will reduce the need for much of the human work that happens today.

I’ve had sleepless nights when I’ve considered the implications of these coming changes. However, my concern has been alleviated as I’ve refocused my personal attention away from the minutiae of my role to the job-to-be-done (JTBD) or the outcome I intend to achieve. You may find this exercise similarly empowering.

Consider the JTBD of insights. Why are researchers hired? Is it for research design? Slide creation? Pivot tables? Or perhaps something else? While there are numerous motivations for hiring insights, I think we can reasonably summarize the job as: "Insights are hired by leaders to enable them to make confident decisions." 

If you intend to stay a researcher, maintain clarity on the JTBD for insights. This may lead you to make different decisions about your growth path than you otherwise would. For instance, rather than focus purely on the mechanics of how to run a survey or summarize a diary study, you might be better served by understanding the impact of innovation on your organization’s enterprise value. Or, how to influence a product roadmap based on research. 

There are many reasons to feel anxious about the AI age. However, the attention shift from the processes of research toward the JTBD of research will enable researchers to gain influence within their organizations. This process requires constant learning but increases the likelihood of future success.