Harvard Data Science Review Podcast AI Won’t Take Your Job (But It Might Change It)
Sep 26, 2025
Join Ben Waber, a workplace analytics pioneer and former CEO of Humanyze, alongside Raffaella Sadun, Harvard Business School's expert on managerial productivity. They dive into how AI is reshaping job roles rather than replacing them, and discuss the critical need for firms to adapt through experimentation. Insights include the changing landscape of skills, with an emphasis on creativity and collaboration, and the importance of treating AI as a collaborative tool rather than a threat. They also highlight the risks of widening productivity gaps among slower adopters.
AI Snips
Chapters
Transcript
Episode notes
Mockups Versus Real Products
- Generative AI often enables faster mockups but not full working products, creating short-term overconfidence.
- Ben Waber warns executives may cut staff prematurely without understanding long-term costs.
No Universal Playbook For AI
- AI adoption requires firm-specific experimentation and has no universal playbook.
- Raffaella Sadun emphasizes a J-curve where productivity may initially drop during learning.
Heterogeneous Adoption Determines Outcomes
- Expect large heterogeneity in AI's effects across firms and workers rather than neat aggregates.
- Adoption choices determine whether jobs are automated or new ones created.