We have all seen the headlines: “From coding six figures to surviving on DoorDash [an American food delivery platform similar to GrabFood] after artificial intelligence (AI) took his job.”
We hear bold claims – even from tech leaders like Elon Musk – that coding could face “total death” as AI takes over.
It sounds frightening, but it is also misleading until you see the whole picture.
The chief executive officer of Google recently shared that AI has increased the company’s engineering velocity by about 10%, and the company plans to hire more engineers.
Engineering velocity simply means the speed at which engineers design, build, test and deploy products. In other words, AI helps them move faster; it does not replace them.
Similarly, IBM has acknowledged the limits of AI adoption and is increasing hiring in selected areas, particularly among younger talent who can work effectively with AI tools.
These clearly show that while AI solves problems for us, we still need humans to define the problems.
AI can write code, but humans design systems. AI can generate marketing content, but humans understand culture, emotion and strategy. AI can optimise operations, but humans make decisions.
The truth is simple: AI will not take your job, but someone using AI might.
Consider marketing. A year ago, social media content looked very different. Today, highly professional clips – scripted, edited, voiced and subtitled – can be produced in hours using AI tools. Any person with creativity and AI can create viral TikTok content without formal training.
So who would you hire: a marketer with 20 years of experience but no AI skills, or a young creator who understands algorithms, audience data and trends, and uses AI to multiply output?
Experience still matters. Theory still matters. But adaptability matters more.
The “Godmother of AI”, Fei-Fei Li, has emphasised that in today’s hiring landscape, the ability to rapidly learn and apply new tools is increasingly valued. This does not mean degrees are useless.
Degrees provide foundations – marketing theory, engineering principles, consumer behaviour. Industry experience provides context. AI provides leverage.
The World Economic Forum estimates that 44% of core job skills will change within five years – not disappear, but change. This is not a story of extinction; it is a story of evolution.
The Industrial Revolution did not eliminate workers; it created new professions. The Internet did not eliminate businesses; it transformed them. AI is no different.
The future belongs to workers who are strong in fundamentals, curious about new tools, comfortable with technology, quick to learn and willing to adapt.
The question is no longer, “Will AI take my job?” The better question is, “How do I become someone who uses AI better than others?” If we answer that through continuous upskilling, AI becomes our partner, not our threat.
PROF DAVID NGO CHEK LING
Vice-chancellor
Kuala Lumpur University of Science and Technology (KLUST)
