Obviously, everyone has seen the clickbait titles about how AI will replace jobs, put businesses out of work, and all that doom-and-gloom stuff. But lately, it’s been feeling a bit more realistic. I just did a quick Google search for “how many businesses will AI replace,” and I came across a study by McKinsey & Company claiming “that by 2030, up to 800 million jobs could be displaced by automation and AI globally”. That’s only 5 years away.

Friends and family working in different jobs / businesses like accounting, manufacturing, and customer service are starting to talk about it more and more. For context, I work in software development, and it feels like every day there’s a new AI tool or advancement impacting this industry, sometimes for better or worse. It’s like a double-edged sword. On one hand, there’s a new market for businesses looking to adopt AI. That’s good news for now. But on the other hand, the tech is evolving so quickly that it’s hard to ignore that a lot of what developers do now could eventually be taken over by AI.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think AI will replace everything or everyone overnight. But it’s clear in the next few years that big changes are coming. Are other business owners worried about this too?