Why these startup CEOs don’t think AI will replace human roles

Source: TechCrunch

AI’s Impact on Jobs

As AI companies grow in valuation and usage, the debate about how AI is replacing humans in various jobs continues. Studies suggest that roles where AI can automate most tasks will be impacted (MIT Sloan), though some analysts believe AI may also create jobs, with the displacement effect only transitional (Goldman Sachs, Time).

David Shim, CEO of meeting‑notetaker and intelligence company Read AI (TechCrunch article), told TechCrunch at Web Summit Qatar that even with the rise of AI tools, humans will ultimately decide the course of action. He compared the technology to using maps in a car:

“I think there’s always going to be a human in the middle. I think the job is going to get easier over time. But a good example would be like driving a car. When we first started, you used to have a map. And you’d pull out the map and say, ‘Okay, I’m driving. I’m deciding what happens.’ Now everyone uses Waze or Google Maps, and the map is telling you where to go. You’re just following that order. But you’re the human in the middle who can decide what happens.”

Shim acknowledged that AI will affect jobs, noting that advertising agencies may lose human roles to automated tools, yet tech platforms will still need people to oversee the automation process.

Abdullah Asiri, founder of AI‑powered consumer‑support tooling startup Lucidya (website), believes AI will replace tasks but not entire roles. He observes that when Lucidya’s clients use the platform, customer‑support agents often shift to supervisory or relationship‑building responsibilities, leveraging the time saved by automation.

Read AI’s Shim added that meeting notetakers free humans from manually taking notes:

“Nobody here wants to sit down and take meeting notes, but as you start to take away that job, you have a little bit more time to do other things. You can send that report a little bit faster, or you can respond back to a customer and actually have better context to make better decisions, versus spending a bunch of time gathering all the information and having little time to make a decision.”

AI’s Internal Use and Hiring

As tech companies like Read AI and Lucidya increasingly adopt AI tools, they aim to keep their teams lean. Read AI’s customer‑service team consists of just five people who serve millions of monthly users. Shim noted that AI tools make a small team more productive by providing richer context for faster decision‑making.

Read AI’s sales tool predicts the state of a deal using data from CRM systems such as HubSpot and Salesforce. The startup reports that deals worth $200 million have been approved through that system. Shim said Read AI captures 23 % more context with each update, which can be used to evaluate what worked—or didn’t—in a lead call.

Lucidya’s Asiri highlighted that the company also uses AI tools (including Read AI) for meetings and marketing‑asset creation, aiming to “scale outcomes without scaling headcounts.”

“The goal for any company is to hire people who are AI‑native, who are very strong with AI, but we need to be realistic. Today, this skill is being developed. You cannot find a lot of people who have very strong AI capabilities, not building AI, but using AI.”

Lucidya CEO Abdullah Asiri – Image Credits: Ramsey Cardy/Web Summit Qatar via Sportsfile

Asiri added that candidates who can build agents to augment their work will become increasingly desirable hires.

Handling Customer Perception of AI

Shim noted that a few years ago many people were hesitant to have AI notetakers in meetings and didn’t understand why a bot was on the call. Today, users are more receptive as long as they are given controls around recording.

Lucidya discloses to users when it is using a voice AI to communicate. Asiri emphasized that for users, issue resolution matters more than whether an AI bot or a human handled the call:

“It’s all about resolving issues and finding customers’ problems and resolving them. As long as the AI agents are actually focusing on that part, customers are happy that their issues are being resolved. The customer really doesn’t care whether it’s fixed by AI or a human, as long as it’s fixed fast and accurately.”