Evolving, Not Replaced

Credit to Fiona Young of Carve for her original article that inspired this post.

There's a lot of talk lately about AI "taking over" assistant roles. I hear it everywhere - in articles, webinars, even in passing conversations. But when I pause and really reflect on it, I don't feel threatened. I feel... curious. Maybe even hopeful.

What's actually happening isn't replacement - it's evolution. The best assistants aren't disappearing. They are transforming. Some are retraining, some are stepping into more strategic work, and others are learning to use AI as their silent partner - a multiplier of what already makes them good.

I can already feel the shift. The routine parts of my day - minutes, reports, follow-ups, status updates - are slowly being handled by systems that can now think and respond. But instead of resisting it, I've started to ask: what can I do with the time this frees up?

That's where the real growth begins. Time, once filled with repetitive tasks, can now be redirected toward higher-value work - anticipating needs, improving workflows, and offering insights that only a human with intuition and experience can see.

The truth is, AI can't replicate the essence of what makes a great assistant:

• The ability to sense and solve problems before they appear.

• The instinct to protect time and align priorities with what truly matters.

• The empathy to add warmth and humanity to professional relationships.

• The deep understanding of how to become an extension of your executive, not just a support function.

Those are distinctly human strengths - the ones that rise even higher when the noise of admin is stripped away. I've started to see AI not as competition, but as collaboration. It drafts; I decide. It organizes; I interpret. It speeds up; I give meaning.

Maybe that's the quiet revolution unfolding right now -- not losing our work to machines, but reclaiming the human art within it.