The Great AI Job Replacement

La Presse recently reported that 810,000 jobs in Quebec (18% of the workforce) could be threatened by AI, citing a study from the Institut du Québec.

Headlines like these feed the feeling that we’re driving straight into a wall when it comes to jobs.

But is that really the case?

Short answer: yes, but only if we don’t get on board with the transformation of the world of work.

In my view, we should be talking about automated tasks rather than eliminated jobs. And that’s especially true for our industry — communications and creativity — where the human factor and creativity remain competitive advantages… for now.

“Job losses” are often really about tasks that were automatable anyway. It’s not always the jobs themselves that disappear, but a portion of the tasks within them that can be handed off to a machine.

An evolution, not a mass extinction

Another study, this time from the World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025, shows that between 2025 and 2030, about 92 million jobs worldwide could be at risk, while 170 million new jobs would be created — a net gain of 78 million jobs.

So we’re not talking about a great replacement, but rather an accelerated evolution of the job market.

Yes, the nature of jobs will change radically. Old models built around repetitive tasks will be handed to AI. The new roles will be in creative design, strategy, creative direction, real-world experience, AI development, and cybersecurity — anything that demands human flair.

But one thing is certain: if you’re replaceable, you will be replaced. In the new AI economy, there won’t be room for people doing useless tasks or inefficient employees kept on out of habit.

Let’s be honest: AI can already write copy, generate images, and even come up with concepts that beat 80% of human work.

Some kinds of creative work lend themselves well to automation: copywriting, translation, research, certain visuals, or product descriptions, for example.

Any task a machine does “better” was probably only ever temporary for humans to begin with.

Where AI stops — without emotion, instinct, or humor — humans can inject what makes content unique and memorable to other humans. That’s what we need to focus on.

Is Quebec falling behind?

According to the Institut du Québec study cited by La Presse, only 12% of Quebec businesses plan to adopt AI in the coming year. 12%!

That rate is modest compared to the scale of the phenomenon elsewhere. So yes, Quebec is behind.

Slower adoption means fewer shocks for the jobs being replaced. But it also means a major drag on our long-term productivity.

Waiting too long to implement AI risks costing us a huge competitive edge and pushing us to the bottom of the productivity and innovation rankings.

Instead of fearing job losses, let’s talk ratios

“It’s not so much the disappearance of jobs that we should fear, but rather the impact on workers who don’t have the ability to retrain.”

—Institut du Québec study

I remain optimistic: automating tasks, when managed well, can create more value than it removes. Instead of a total replacement, we can hope for a ratio that favors us — say, 1.5 new tech jobs created for every job lost.

Numbers like the ones cited by La Presse can create anxiety. But as the World Economic Forum study points out, this massive shift in the job market points to as much job creation as task streamlining.

Quebec is capable of great things. Adopting AI is probably its biggest challenge yet. But to avoid the great replacement, we need to get moving… right now.