Will AI Take Your Job? Why It’s Time to Rethink Corporate Learning
Which jobs are most at risk from artificial intelligence? Since the arrival of ChatGPT, this has become one of the most frequently asked questions in HR offices around the world. And now Microsoft has given us a clearer answer. In a recent report, the tech giant identifies the roles most exposed to AI, using a new concept: the AI applicability index.
The world’s second-largest listed company has just closed a remarkable financial year, generating almost $300 billion in revenue and $100 billion in net profit. Both figures represent 15% year-on-year growth. According to Satya Nadella, this growth is largely driven by two things: the cloud and artificial intelligence. “Cloud and AI are the engines of business transformation in every industry,” Microsoft’s CEO explained. “We’re innovating across the full technology stack to help our customers adapt and grow in this new era.”
And in this new era, AI is beginning to take on tasks and roles historically performed by people. Microsoft has sought to clarify the scale of this impact through a study based on an analysis of Bing Copilot user interactions. The report draws a correlation between the queries people make and the workplace tasks that could be carried out -or complemented - by generative AI. The results indicate that the roles most at risk are those forming part of the so-called “knowledge economy”: roles driven by highly skilled human capital and innovation.
Which Roles Are Most at Risk?
At the top of the list are translators, content writers, analysts, web developers, customer service agents, marketers and administrative assistants. These are roles in which generative AI already acts as an assistant. It doesn’t always replace the professional, but it does reshape their day-to-day work - and, in some cases, becomes a direct threat.
The Role of Learning and Development
Microsoft’s report doesn’t focus on the economic impact of AI or predict large - scale redundancies. Nor does it claim these jobs will simply vanish. What it actually measures is how exposed a role is to the current capabilities of generative AI.
That nuance is essential for organisations when designing their learning and development strategies. The findings show that knowledge workers will have to redefine their skillsets if they want to avoid becoming truly at risk.
Rather than asking whether AI will or will not “destroy jobs”, the real debate should focus on how the technology will transform the skills required in roles that already exist. And in that debate, L&D and HR professionals have a strategic role to play: training people to use AI for their own benefit - and for the benefit of their business - rather than trying to compete against it.
What Does This Mean for Training Strategies?
The first step is to improve AI literacy. Employees need to understand what AI can do, how it works, which biases it may contain and in which contexts it is useful-or potentially harmful. Secondly, organisations need to review their upskilling and reskilling strategies. Many teams don’t necessarily need more technical knowledge. What they often need is a reconfiguration of their cognitive abilities: sharper critical thinking, stronger synthesis skills, better contextual understanding, and a more robust ethical mindset.
Finally, companies must recognise that corporate learning is not only for employees-it also needs to include the people who design and deliver training. The key is to rethink learning environments and understand that AI is not simply another subject area, but a new language of work.
From Soft Skills to Systemic Thinking
One of the most significant conclusions from Microsoft’s AI applicability index is that the roles least exposed to AI are not necessarily “more important” or less automatable. They simply require more direct human contact or involve unstructured physical work.
In other words, the most resilient profiles will be those with skills AI still cannot replicate. Human abilities such as empathy, judgement and creativity. AI can do many things, but it cannot generate genuinely new knowledge. Human - centred skills - like effective communication and decision-making in uncertain contexts-remain irreplaceable.
Training in these areas isn’t new, but it has become more urgent. And this isn’t about launching a generic “emotional intelligence for leaders” course and ticking the box. It’s about building continuous learning environments where these capabilities are developed through practice, with guidance and feedback-not just via theory.
What AI Still Cannot Replicate
The list of professions least affected by AI includes embalmers, maintenance assistants and bricklayers - roles far removed from the typical Wall Street employee. This is highly relevant. AI doesn’t operate well in the tangible, physical world; it thrives in settings where large volumes of mental activity can be organised into structured information flows. The more structured the process, the more scope there is for tools like Copilot, Gemini or ChatGPT to intervene.
So the key question for any organisation is not whether AI will change the way we work. It already is. The real question is: how are we preparing ourselves to work alongside it? At Netex, we help companies across all sectors to transform their learning strategies and adapt them to this new reality. We’ve learned there’s no single path forward - but there is a shared starting point: stop seeing AI as a threat and start treating it as a strength. And that requires more than technology. It requires a people - centred learning vision.