Former AI Executive Clara Shih Says AI Will Mean 3 Types of Jobs. Which One Are You?

What happens to your career when the technology you use starts taking over parts of your job? 

Most likely, it gets reshaped. And this isn't about fear or hype because it's already happening. The long hours of coding once spent by a software engineer can now be done through vibe coding. First-line customer care is not left out either, with AI answering queries and giving structured responses on behalf of people and businesses alike. 

So where exactly does that leave you? 

Ex-Meta and Salesforce executive Clara Shih says the answer is "nuanced" because AI is changing all the time. In an interview with Jon Wertheim, a longtime correspondent on CBS's 60 Minutes, she was candid about the uncertainty.  

"No one has a crystal ball on how this plays out," she said, adding that one thing that will happen is " there's going to be three types of jobs going forward." 

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The Three Types of Jobs AI Is Bringing 

As a former AI executive who has headed AI divisions in both Meta and Salesforce, she expects the technology to bring about three sets of people, including "first, people who are building AI, second, people who are using AI, and third, people who are getting managed by AI."  

"The third group already exists," she said, describing who belongs in this category. Think of your Uber driver or a DoorDash courier, where an algorithm assigns the work, sets the pace, and measures the output. Increasingly, the same applies to knowledge workers such as customer support reps and sales development reps. Platforms like Mercor, which uses AI to recruit and match talent, offer a glimpse of how this model is spreading.