AI and the great hollowing out: how technology is reshaping knowledge work
Artificial intelligence is transforming knowledge work professions by eliminating mid-level roles while preserving entry-level and senior positions. Discover how this “hollowing out” is reshaping careers in software development, law, accounting, and other fields.
The new developer: AI as a colleague, not a replacement
For developers navigating the shift towards AI coding, the path forward isn’t about competing with AI on coding speed or syntax knowledge. It’s about developing the skills that complement rather than compete with what AI can do.
The learning gap: how AI disruption threatens professional development
The traditional professional development model relied on a progression that now risks disappearing. Without deliberate intervention, we face not just economic disruption for current mid-tier professionals, but potentially an expertise crisis in the coming decades.
The expertise vacuum: when AI outpaces human understanding
The expertise vacuum created by AI poses risks that go far beyond job losses. It threatens to undermine the very foundations of reasoned decision-making within organisations and society more broadly.
Beyond developers: the pattern across knowledge work
The hollowing out we’re witnessing in software development, executive assistance and copywriting isn’t a coincidence. It’s part of a broader pattern reshaping virtually every knowledge work profession, though at different rates and with field-specific nuances.
The final verdict: AI’s revolution of the mid-tier knowledge worker career
We’re witnessing the end of the traditional mid-tier knowledge worker career. It’s an opportunity to redefine professional value in more uniquely human terms.