Are you panicked by headlines like ‘Why this leading AI CEO is warning that tech could cause mass unemployment’ and ‘AI’s impact on the job market is ‘inevitable’? My advice is chill.
While there is a big shift in jobs coming, it’s not as scary-sounding as you might fear. At the Open Source Summit North America in Denver, the Linux Foundation released its 2025 State of Tech Talent report, revealing that upskilling and open source will address the demands of an AI-driven workforce.
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According to the report, 94% of organizations expect AI to add significant value to their operations and are actively expanding AI-specific roles. However, the transition from pilot programs to widespread AI success hinges not on access to technology, but on having a workforce capable of leveraging AI effectively. Clyde Seepersad, senior vice president and general manager of Linux Foundation Education, emphasized that “70% of AI transformation is determined by the people and the processes supporting it.”
True, some bosses might operate under the delusion, ala disgraced former GE CEO Jack Welch, Seepersad said, that they can fire their way to corporate greatness. But, he added, “no company ever shrank its way to greatness.”
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As David Brudenell, executive director at Decidr.ai, an Australian AI company, warned: “AI won’t wipe out half of white-collar jobs. But bad leadership might. Most layoffs come from a copycat strategy, not cutting-edge tech. AI becomes the scapegoat when leaders don’t have a better plan. Yes, AI will take over repetitive tasks. That’s not a crisis, it’s a cue. The smart move is to redesign work, not reduce headcount. Shift people to the things machines can’t touch: judgment, trust, creativity, relationships.”
Training is paramount
What’s clear is that the nature of work is changing fundamentally in organizations and professionals must prepare for this shift.
As Seepersad told me in an interview, while “virtually everybody, 96 97% of respondents, say they see significant potential to improve their business with AI, two-thirds of them are also saying they don’t think they have enough staff.”
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For example, Accenture has committed to expand its data & AI workforce from approximately 57,000 workers at the end of fiscal year 2024 to 80,000 by the end of fiscal year 2026.
In response to these shifts, organizations are prioritizing the upskilling of existing staff. The report found that 72% of respondents now prioritize upskilling, up from just 48% in 2024. Upskilling is not only 62% faster than hiring new talent, but technical training programs are also 91% more effective at improving retention.
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If your company isn’t encouraging you to learn how to use AI to your best benefit, then you have reason to worry. And, so, for that matter, does the company’s owners.
That’s because two-thirds of organizations report that AI has significantly changed how their teams operate. Developers are increasingly required to validate AI-generated code. In short, you may not be a vibe programmer, but you must work with vibe code.
New roles, new skills
Yes, many entry-level job tasks are being automated by AI, so it’s time to get ready for a new kind of first role: one where you’ll need to know how to use AI to your advantage.
Seepersad explained how in one company he knows that “typical tier one tech support staffing is down by about 50% because the AI agentic models are really good at ‘I forgot my password,’ ‘What’s my username?’ or ‘Why did you charge me twice?’ But [they] also took about a dozen people in that role who understood what it’s like to deal with customers to help them build and oversee these models.” This trend suggests it’s people with one foot in customer-facing roles and the other in tech that can expect to do well in tomorrow’s AI-driven job market.
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Seepersad continued: “I think we’ll see a lot of this sort of job category shifting.” Once upon a time, ” to make a long-distance call, you had to talk to an operator who created a connection. That job doesn’t exist today, but there are more people working in telco today than there were then. So, particular occupations will go away, but others will spring up. Many jobs will be more blended than they are today. So, you don’t start as a pure software developer, but maybe as someone who understands the business first and then writes programs.”
One important consideration is how professionals will secure these roles. Certifications will be crucial, with 71% of organizations considering them important when recruiting new talent. That said, over half of organizations, 56%, rely on upskilling rather than hiring or contracting to fill AI and machine-learning skills gaps. Once again, the advice is clear: if your business isn’t ready for the AI shift, get the certifications and experience you need elsewhere to make the most of the fast-changing workplace.
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At the same time, open source is proving to be a strategic enabler for AI adoption, with 40% of organizations leveraging open-source frameworks, models, and tools. Companies with open-source cultures report stronger employee retention and skill development. As many as 91% of organizations find technical training effective for retention, and 84% credit open-source cultures with improving retention. Since AI runs on open source, skilled open-source developers will be sitting pretty.
More generally, the job market will continue to transform. How will these changes manifest when all’s said and done? Seepersad didn’t know. In fact, no one does. AI is changing businesses faster than any of us can fully comprehend.
However, Seepersad was sure that “your job tomorrow won’t be the same as yesterday’s. The playbook we’ve been using for the past 20 years won’t be the same, which will be uncomfortable. But we also know there will be a ton of people providing context and making judgment calls using AI in their jobs.”
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