Adoption of AI across workspaces is happening at a furious rate and the professional landscape is undergoing a paradigm shift.
Organizations and departments are reporting a positive synergy between humans and agentic AI leading to increased productivity and business outcomes, and, as predicted, a reduced need for human/ manual resources.
But, leaders at many of these ‘early AI-adopter’ organizations feel they have reasons to be optimistic about the job market. They see many new job roles being created; roles that did not exist earlier (e.g., Retrieval-Augmented Generation or RAG), and an increased demand for some roles that had existed previously (Compliance and Ethics).
Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) is a very recent job role. So, what does a person in this role do? Most LLMs don’t have access to real-time or external data unless it was part of their training. RAG solves this by:
1. Retrieving relevant information from an external knowledge source (e.g., a database, documents, or the web).
2. Feeding that information into a generative model (like GPT) to generate a contextually accurate and grounded response.
So, professionals in roles where domain-specific knowledge is critical — like customer support, legal, finance, or academic research – are ideal candidates for these jobs. A professional working on RAG systems might have job titles like ML Engineer, AI Researcher, NLP Engineer, or Data Scientist
Now, moving on the ethics and compliance roles – As AI and autonomous agents rapidly infiltrate workplace systems the role of compliance and ethics officers is critical to ensuring responsible and sustainable AI adoption.
1. AI usage in the workplace is under scrutiny from regulators, and more laws are coming. From the EU AI Act to U.S. executive orders on AI safety, compliance officers are essential for:
2. Interpreting evolving legal standards for AI transparency, bias mitigation, and explainability.
3. Ensuring the company doesn’t inadvertently violate data protection laws (like GDPR or HIPAA).
4. Auditing AI systems for risks such as discriminatory outcomes, IP misuse, or surveillance overreach.
When AI becomes increasingly embedded in systems for decision-making and operations, compliance and ethics officers ensure it doesn’t become a liability. They’ll play a key role in shaping how AI is adopted, governed, and trusted in the workplace.
Almost all Global Capability Centers (GCCs) of top organizations across the globe are working on AI agents to be introduced for their internal teams as well as their clients. We’ll see a massive wave of implementation and adoption in the coming months.
So, in conclusion, the transition to autonomous agents is causing pain in the industry with some skills becoming redundant. This trend will gain pace in the days to follow and will continue till it becomes ubiquitous. But, the shift will eventually lead to the creation of new roles and employment opportunities. So, we need to upskill ourselves now, be on the lookout for and take advantage of these new opportunities.
Core message:
The AI revolution is not just eliminating jobs—it is redefining them. Those who adapt early, especially in technical (e.g., RAG) and governance (e.g., ethics/compliance) roles, will be best positioned to lead in the new world of work.