“You used to be able to get away with hiring specialists. Now, market conditions and AI have changed this – probably permanently. Companies are going to be smaller, and the people you hire will be decathletes, doing lots of tasks at a high level.
With generative AI, decathletes could replace entire departments. AI co-pilots will turn writers into data scientists, and data scientists into graphic designers, with >little training.”
Yesterday, I stumbled upon this essay by NFX that offered recommendations for founders in preparation for a potential market recovery 🤞.
After two years of enduring contraction of the venture landscape, this essay tries to put a glimmer of hope on the horizon.
On the other hand, as Crunchbase funding statistics 📉 show, October 2023 registered a disheartening -24% decline compared to the same month last year, which had already distanced itself from the 2021 peak.
A market turnaround doesn’t appear to be imminent. Nevertheless, there are numerous takeaways📌 from the essay.
In addition to the array of guidance provided to founders on how to be adequately prepared, the statement at the beginning of this post caught my attention.
The question arises: what impact will AI have in this scenario?
According to Layoffs.fyi 📊, there have been more than 248,000 tech-related layoffs worldwide since the start of the year. Following more than 164k in 2022.
While the root causes may vary significantly from company to company, the outcome remains consistent — smaller teams.
It is plausible that with fewer personnel, productivity needs to be ‘augmented,’ and as per the article here comes the AI.✨
The notion of less specialized roles, facilitated by AI’s ability to cover multiple domains, is undeniably intriguing.
As a non-expert in the field of HR, it appears to counter the prevailing trend in recent years, characterized by a strong emphasis on specialization.
Is this the direction that OpenAI’s GPTs are taking us?
A future where one person can perform (at a high level) multiple roles thanks to specific design agents?
We will see! Personally, I’m pretty thrilled about how work will evolve in the next years 😎