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ForHackernewstoday at 12:09 PM5 repliesview on HN

This is a fun joke, but there's a real element of truth to it: A big fraction of senior executives' work is vulnerable to replacement by AI.

In other fields, where automation or tooling has enabled technicians to do work that previously required expensive expertise, there's been a drive from management to replace those costly professionals.

What's the parallel for executives? Is the CEO market ripe for disruption by a flashy entertainer who can act as a Musk-esque figurehead for 5-15 companies, replacing their expensive CEOs?


Replies

vachinatoday at 12:12 PM

AI cannot replace CEO the same reason AI cannot replace your girlfriend.

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helsinkiandrewtoday at 12:17 PM

> A big fraction of senior executives' work is vulnerable to replacement by AI.

A big fraction of a senior executives' work can also be delegated to others in the company (or outside consultants and services), the thing that can't is being ultimately responsible for making the final decisions - product, people, direction etc.

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21asdffdsa12today at 12:12 PM

Hire a theater kid and put a knob in its ear.

b112today at 12:19 PM

In the 80s and early 90s, massive swaths of "middle management" were purged by Corporate America. Those managers have never returned. That's not CxO class of course, but these were 'executives'. Very well paid ones at the time, what might have been considered 'upper middle income'. Well-to-do.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DZWKGZGN Human Resources: A Tor Original by Adrian Tchaikovsky (Author)

An amusing take on it. Because it makes sense. It isn't the CEO that's the last to be fired. It's the HR guy, because you need HR until there's no one left to fire.

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simianwordstoday at 2:08 PM

> A big fraction of senior executives' work is vulnerable to replacement by AI.

what? how? literally what work is already not done by some subordinate that an executive does now?

if some work can be replaced, its already done by some employee. those employees are susceptible to replacement.