The author believes that AI will change how data practitioners work, but it won't replace them. Instead, it might lead to a need for more data practitioners as the demand for data-driven insights increases. The author concludes by mentioning Hex, a platform that makes it easy to build and share interactive data products, suggesting that such tools can help data teams be more impactful.
Key takeaways:
- The job of a data practitioner is more than just writing code or making charts, it involves knowing what questions to ask and anticipating future needs, which are not tasks that can be easily replaced by AI.
- Even though AI may reduce the human hours needed for each task, it doesn't necessarily mean that we will need fewer human hours overall. This is due to Jevons’ Paradox, which states that as technological improvements make tasks more efficient, the overall consumption of that task increases.
- There is an enormous untapped demand for data insights. As AI makes data tasks more efficient, it will stimulate more demand for data insights, leading to a greater need for data practitioners.
- AI will change the way we work, but it's unlikely to result in job losses for data practitioners. Instead, it may lead to an increase in demand for their skills.