ByPaul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL
May 19, 2026
Investors have been spooked by Microsoft's huge surge in spending on AI infrastructure - Copyright AFP/File RONNY HARTMANN
There’s no doubt about it. The race to the bottom has accelerated to almost Bozo on a Skateboard speeds. Mustafa Suleyman’s statement, correct or not, is an indication of the lack of depth and cultural poverty of AI management.
Roles cited as vulnerable include law, accountancy, marketing, and project management.
Let’s start with some fundamentals.
Why would you even want to replace all white-collar jobs? To save money, perhaps? To prove that a class of tech used to write high school assignments and conscientiously detailed reports that nobody reads is a better option? To abdicate all responsibility for the conduct of your business?
What quality standards are to be applied? AI already has a lousy record in law, citing non-existent legal precedents, for example. AI accounting errors instantly generate an entire search page of idiocies on a Google News search. Are we to assume that the idea is to replace competent people with incompetent software?
Marketing? Isn’t marketing inefficient enough as it is? More marketing doesn’t mean better marketing. This is a particularly monotonous, unproductive sector in which no level of total abject failure is apparently enough. From online campaigns to TikTok, the shelf life of marketing is now measured in seconds.
Project management? When did project management suddenly become simple? If you’ve ever worked on a project, and I have, you know what’s going to happen. Projects invariably go off the rails. They need physical steering and oversight. They’re not dashboard roles. AI already has a gruesome reputation for project failures.
Given that AI has already become notorious for definitely not being able to do any of these jobs, why this prophecy from Microsoft?
Because it sounds nice? Because the game of managerial musical chairs created by AI is fun? Because Microsoft is determined to antagonize as many potential C-level decision-making buyers as possible by proving these people can be replaced by a few bucks’ worth of rather tacky, unreliable tech?
Let’s try a slightly different, more subtly nuanced perspective:
Most of what AI does in business roles is already done by humans. It’s largely unnecessary in that regard.
AI cannot truly replace humans in any human role in any sense.
AI cannot, and more to the point, does not, criticize. That’s far more dangerous than some fraudulent fool in a suit.
AI lacks any form of objectivity beyond its tasks. There’s no “why” in what it does; it just does it, right or wrong.
Trashing the white-collar workforce is no better than trashing the blue-collar workforce. You lose the experience and expertise, and you get a chatbot to cry on when it inevitably goes wrong.
By the way – Stop whining about wages. You created those jobs and the value of their work relative to those wages. AI won’t fix any role that isn’t cost-effective anyway.
Just ask yourself this folksy question.
What are you going to replace yourself with?
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Disclaimer
The opinions expressed in this Op-Ed are those of the author. They do not purport to reflect the opinions or views of the Digital Journal or its members.
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