Let’s face it, AI is pretty great, but there is one thing that AI just cannot replace, and that is personal touch, individual attention and frankly, a pair of human eyeballs (think AI-generated images of three-legged people, bicycles with square wheels, or hands with 7 to 11 fingers (we think you get the picture).
According to an online article by the BBC, Executive Assistants are among the first jobs vulnerable to artificial intelligence. Yet current administrative professionals say there are intangibles technology just can’t replicate yet.
In January 2024, Ayo Edebiri won a Golden Globe for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Television Series – Musical or Comedy. When accepting the award, first and foremost, she thanked her agent’s and manager’s assistants for the invaluable work they do behind the scenes, including answering her “crazy, crazy emails”.
Assistants are vital in helping high-profile names and leaders go about their daily tasks (think Donna Paulsen on Suits, for instance). Yet as technology becomes more sophisticated, people want to know if AI will ever be able to organise your meetings, book a venue, prioritise your inbox (including those “crazy, crazy emails”), order your favourite lunch and prevent you from missing personal appointments.
Currently, these kinds of administrative tasks are the domain of personal and executive assistants, who focus on helping bosses with logistics, communication and more.
Now, however, as AI technology gathers momentum, some AI virtual assistant platforms market themselves as a human alternative. For instance, ClickUp AI touts that it can consolidate daily tasks and optimise them accordingly; there’s also Wally, which drafts emails on workers’ behalf.
Other emerging technologies not technically classified as AI-powered virtual assistant programmes are also beginning to replace some of these tasks. Process automation or scheduling software can take off some of the burdens of daily logistics. Generative AI, too, can help bosses with increasingly sophisticated tasks, such as building an itinerary for a business trip, or conducting preliminary research for meetings.
Experts have long predicted that administrative roles might be first on the chopping block as AI technology advances. Yet it’s not time to panic if ever, says Mansoor Soomro, a senior lecturer in sustainability and international business at Teesside University, UK. “AI just isn’t ready to handle anything beyond the base-level of assistant duties, he argues. Luckily, several complex tasks still require an element of human-level decision making.”
Humans may be able to outsource some work to AI, but there still limitations to what these tools can achieve. Soomro explains how, currently, “AI can’t be intelligent in terms of emotion, and that’s the toughest nut to crack”. He says the sensitivity and nuance essential to human assistants is still missing, as is the creativity many executives look for.
Some assistants are already sure AI isn’t yet capable of replacing them – partly because they are already using these tools themselves.
Soomro agrees that humans will always have a part to play within the assistant industry. “AI will do the routine tasks and improve the potential of what humans can achieve,” he says. “It will open doors for humans to do more and do better.”
