AI isn't coming for your job, it's coming for your to-do list |
The AI wave has crashed, and we're now swimming through the detritus.
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Some of it's golden, like the time saved and the small, everyday tasks quietly taken off our plates. Some of it is less comfortable, like the very real fear of job losses as an increasing number of workplace tasks are being automated.
Atlassian has cut about 10 per cent of its workforce, while Salesforce and Amazon are reducing roles as they double down on AI.
While this is unfortunate collateral damage in the AI revolution, there's no putting this genie back in the bottle. We're simply not returning to a world without it, so our focus has to turn to what happens when our jobs change, and how we can adapt.
If you zoom in on most roles, a surprising amount of time isn't spent doing the job itself, but chasing information, digging through documents, sitting across multiple systems, and asking the same internal questions again and again.
This is particularly true in the Australian Public Service (APS), where work often spans multiple systems, legacy platforms and policy frameworks. For many APS and state government employees, the challenge lies in navigating the layers around the work.
For a policy officer, that can look like pulling together a briefing from multiple sources, cross-checking past decisions, and aligning with existing frameworks before a recommendation can even take shape. None of it is especially complex on its own, but the compound effect is time-consuming and mentally draining.
The good thing is AI is very good at taking on these tasks. In a public sector context, AI can summarise long policy documents into a digestible format and pool insights from across departments. This means the starting point for drafting documents can be reached a lot quicker and easier, without removing any of the rigour.
As we've experienced in my small tech start-up team, AI-enabled tools can surface company knowledge instantly,........