Redesign, Not Replaced

What most AI advanced companies are doing

Aug 17, 2026

“AI isn’t replacing people. It’s changing what they do.” — Nadina D. Lisbon

Hello Sip Savants! 👋🏾

We have seen the headlines. Most headlines are saying AI will cut jobs. A new JLL survey found the opposite. 60% of senior leaders expect their workforce to grow as they add more AI. Not shrink, but grow [1]. Jobs are changing, but they are not going away. Here are three surveys worth a few minutes this week.

3 Tech Bites

📈 Who saw this coming?
- JLL’s 2026 Future of Work Survey, which polled more than 2,200 leaders across 21 countries, found 60% expect their workforces to grow and 60% expect AI to reinvent human roles rather than replace them. The firms furthest along with AI are the most likely to be hiring full time staff and investing in entry level talent [1].
🧩 Who’s getting paid more?
- Upwork’s Future Workforce Index 2026 found that skilled workers who use AI in their work earn 34% more per hour. More US knowledge workers are freelancing. It grew to 38% from 28% in a year [2]. Upwork calls the new role the AI Orchestrator. It’s the person who pairs AI tools with real expertise and turns that into results a business can actually use.
🌱 What about entry level?
- For its 2026 Global AI Jobs Barometer, PwC looked at more than a billion job ads. It found that entry level jobs touched by AI are seven times more likely to ask for skills like leadership and creativity. These jobs grew 35% since 2019, while other entry level jobs shrank [3]. Entry level work is being reshaped with more weight on human skills.

5-Minute Strategy

🧠 Rewrite One Job

You don’t need a reorg to redesign a role. Start with one role, on paper. Here’s one way to try.

Think of one role on your team that AI has changed.
In a blank doc, write the job description as if you were hiring for that role today.
Remove any tasks now being handled by AI and automation.
Add the work that role has time for now.
Set up a conversation with the person in that role. Walk them through the updated job description and align on the real work.

1 Big Idea

💡The Better Problems

You know how the story goes. AI does the work, and people lose their jobs. This summer’s numbers say otherwise. JLL found that most leaders expect to grow their teams [1]. What is really happening?

It’s a redesign. When a routine part of the job is taken over, what’s left is usually the part that needs a person all along. Client relationships, ambiguity with no clear cut answer. Upwork’s numbers already show people earning more are the ones who pair AI with their expertise [2]. When a task gets cheaper, the person doing it doesn’t get less valuable.

PwC found that entry level roles touched by AI increasingly ask for skills we used to expect from seniors, like leadership and creativity [3]. The old apprenticeship, where you learn by doing routine work first, is disappearing. The more interesting work can start earlier as long as the organization is prepared to support it.

When JLL asked leadership what was holding them back, almost no one blamed the tech. Surprising, I know. They point within, at their own teams. The learning curve, and the new way of work was slowing them down [1]. The organizations moving ahead are the ones actively guiding their people on how to use this newly reclaimed time.

Automation is handing back time, and every leader gets to decide what that time is for. Handle with care, and people get better problems. Better problems lead to people who care about their work.

Which role on your team would you redesign first? I read every response.

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