The AI-Human Partnership: Redefining Work in the Age of Automation

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence is sparking intense debate about the future of human employment. As AI companies reach unprecedented valuations and widespread adoption, the question looms large: Will AI replace humans in the workforce, or will it create new opportunities? Recent studies suggest that roles involving tasks easily automated by AI will face significant disruption, yet some analysts argue that AI could also generate new jobs, with displacement being a temporary phase in a broader transformation.

At Web Summit Qatar, David Shim, CEO of Read AI—a meeting notetaker and intelligence company that recently raised $50 million to integrate its bot with Slack, email, and more—shared his perspective on this evolving dynamic. Shim believes that despite the rise of AI tools, humans will remain central to decision-making processes. He likened the technology to using navigation apps in a car.

“I think there’s always going to be a human in the middle,” Shim explained. “I think the job is going to get easier over time. But a good example would be like driving a car. When we first started, you used to have a map. And you’d pull out the map. And you’d go in and say, okay, I’m driving. I’m deciding what happens. Now everyone uses Waze or Google Maps, and the map is telling you where to go. And you’re just following that order. But you’re the human in the middle who can decide what happens.”

Shim acknowledged that AI will inevitably impact certain jobs, particularly in industries like advertising, where agencies may see human roles replaced by automated tools. However, he emphasized that tech platforms will still require human oversight to manage and refine the automation process.

Abdullah Asiri, founder of Lucidya, an AI-powered consumer support tooling startup, echoed this sentiment. He believes that AI will replace tasks rather than entire roles. Asiri explained that when Lucidya’s clients adopt their tools, customer support agents often transition into new responsibilities. Some become supervisors guiding both humans and AI, while others focus on relationship-building and business development, leveraging the time saved by automation.

Read AI’s Shim highlighted how meeting notetakers have liberated humans from the tedious task of manual note-taking. “Nobody here wants to sit down and take meeting notes, but as you start to take away that job, you have a little bit more time to do other things that you can go and focus on. You can send that report a little bit faster, or you can respond back to a customer and actually have better context to make better decisions, versus spending a bunch of time gathering all the information and having little time to make a decision,” he said.

AI’s Internal Use and Hiring Strategies

As tech companies like Read AI and Lucidya increasingly integrate AI tools into their operations, they are prioritizing lean teams. Read AI’s customer service team, for instance, consists of just five people serving millions of monthly users. Shim noted that the company leverages AI tools to enhance the productivity of its small team, providing them with more context to perform their jobs more efficiently.

The productivity gains are tangible. Read AI’s sales tool, for example, predicts the state of a deal using data from CRM systems like HubSpot and Salesforce. The startup reported that it has facilitated deals worth $200 million through this system. Shim added that Read AI captures 23% more context with each update, enabling teams to evaluate what worked or didn’t in a lead call.

Lucidya’s Asiri also emphasized the company’s reliance on AI tools, including Read AI, for meetings and marketing asset creation. He stressed the importance of “scaling outcomes without scaling headcounts.”

“The goal for any company is to hire people who are AI native, who are very strong with AI, but we need to be realistic,” Asiri said. “Today, this skill is being developed. You cannot find a lot of people who have very strong AI capabilities, not building AI, but using AI.”

Asiri noted that individuals who can build agents to assist with their jobs will be highly desirable in the future.

Handling Customer Perception of AI

Shim observed that just a few years ago, many people were hesitant to have AI notetakers in meetings, often questioning the presence of a bot. However, he noted that attitudes have shifted, with people now more receptive to notetakers as long as they have control over recording.

Asiri shared that Lucidya is transparent with users when employing voice AI for communication. He emphasized that for customers, the priority is issue resolution rather than whether an AI bot or human handles their calls.

“It’s all about resolving issues and finding customers’ problems and resolving them,” Asiri said. “As long as the AI agents are actually focusing on that part, customers are happy that their issues are being resolved. The customer really doesn’t care whether it’s fixed by AI or a human, as long as it’s fixed fast and accurately.”

Tags: AI, automation, workforce, human-AI collaboration, job displacement, productivity, tech innovation, meeting notetakers, customer support, AI tools, future of work, AI-native hiring, CRM systems, issue resolution, tech companies, Web Summit Qatar, Read AI, Lucidya, David Shim, Abdullah Asiri.

Viral Phrases: “Humans in the middle,” “Scaling outcomes without scaling headcounts,” “AI-native hiring,” “The customer really doesn’t care whether it’s fixed by AI or a human,” “Nobody here wants to sit down and take meeting notes,” “Humans will remain central to decision-making processes,” “The job is going to get easier over time,” “Transparency in AI communication,” “Issue resolution is more important than the fact that an AI bot is handling their calls.”

,