'The hype is way overblown': 15 Employees quietly changing their career plans because of AI

Jesse Kessenheimer • Writer and Editor

Jun 3, 2026 4:00 PM EDT

AI hype is everywhere these days, but is the buzzword worth changing your entire career?

For a graphic designer, it might be, but for a city planner, AI is just a fad and ultimately a useful tool in creating a better workflow. Depending on which way you slice it, AI can be equal parts terrifying and intriguing. And even if its implementation is going to result in deforestation plans and corn field leveling for the next big data center, the AI train is not going to stop; employees just have to figure out how to hop the rails and hold on tight!

It seems like every office executive is obsessed with AI these days. As if they're overhyping their AI girlfriend or falling in love with their Siri assistant like Joaquin Phoenix's character in Her, C-level bosses simply loooove to rave about their AI escapades. For those of us who are chronically online and have been mainlined into the Internet system since we were 10 years old, AI isn't actually anything that new; it's been around for decades, and the CEOs are just now discovering it.

Obsessing over AI isn't getting the C-levels anywhere, but for the employees whose careers are potentially on the chopping block because of an unfinished AI tool, it all feels a bit scary to wonder how we're going to be whiplashed next. Luckily, there are very few these days who are lucky enough to remain in the same career field for their entire lives, so for the bulk of the workforce, the AI craze is just going to result in a premature pivot.

Like the Friend's episode where they bicker at each other to try and get a couch up the fire escape stairs, we need to put our heads together and get the job done, my fellow employees. Just like Ross and Joey forcing a sectional up a flight of stairs, we need to pivot, PIVOT.

Ironically, the jobs most easily replaced by the current AI modules are filled by those who are making calls about mass firings. So the next time your CEO babbles on about ChatGPT or Claude without understanding that their job could be next, be sure to remind them that a C-level executives job is actually the most highly replaceable position… Wouldn't that be interesting to note?

Until then, check out this list of workers who are anticipating a big change for the future, hoping to find solace on Reddit's r/careerguidance forum in the process.