A grim job outlook meets a scrappy workforce as administrative assistants harness AI

The Washington Post tells us that secretaries and administrative assistants face a 'grim outlook' thanks to AI — which is rather like telling someone their house is on fire but they should try cooking marshmallows on the embers. Employment projection data, that trusty harbinger of doom, suggests these roles are particularly vulnerable. But fear not, because the 'scrappy workforce' is responding by... embracing AI as a tool. Right. Because the best way to deal with the thing coming for your job is to give it a warm welcome and show it how the filing system works.

The piece profiles these so-called scrappy workers who are learning to use AI for scheduling and data entry. It's a classic survival strategy: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em — but in this case, 'em is a statistical model that doesn't get tired, doesn't take holidays, and works for free. The implication is that by becoming proficient with the very technology that threatens them, these workers can somehow secure their positions. It's the labor equivalent of trying to outrun a speeding car by learning to drive it — except the car is also driving itself.

One has to admire the chutzpah of framing a 'grim job outlook' as an opportunity for 'harnessing AI.' It's the kind of spin that would make a PR flack blush. The Washington Post article, no doubt full of quotes from cheery assistants who've discovered that ChatGPT can write emails faster than they can, serves as a perfect example of the modern workforce's predicament: adapt or die, but also, there's no guarantee adaptation works. Still, it's nice to know that the administrative assistants will be the most tech-savvy unemployed people ever.