Dr. Gleb Tsipursky – The Office Whisperer
Nirit Cohen – WorkFutures
Angela Howard – Culture Expert
Drew Jones – Design & Innovation
Jonathan Price – CRE & Flex Expert
This article is based on the Future of Work Podcast episode “Tech innovation” with Angela Hood, Jeremy Fennema & Ram Srinivasan. Click here to listen to the entire episode.
The debate about artificial intelligence often focuses on what it might replace. Yet beneath the noise of layoffs, automation fears, and futuristic predictions, a more meaningful transformation may be underway. AI is already altering how we work, what skills matter, and how people and technology can amplify one another.
This idea took center stage in our recent episode of The Future of Work® Podcast, featuring three leaders shaping workspaces in the AI era: Angela Hood, founder and CEO of ThisWay Global; Jeremy Fennema, a veteran IT executive and fractional CTO; and Ram Srinivasan, an AI adoption strategist at JLL.
Together, they explored how AI is not replacing people but metamorphosing the way humans create value.
Human-Centered Automation Is Upscaling Work
Angela Hood has built her company, ThisWay Global, around a simple belief: technology should expand human potential, not narrow it. Her work in using AI to reduce hiring bias and match talent to opportunity is a direct example of this philosophy.
She explained that remote work remains a defining feature of the modern workplace. Knowledge workers want flexibility, and companies must accept that preference. However, she also emphasized that moments of human connection are still vital for innovation. Breakthroughs often happen when people gather to solve problems together.
In Hood’s view, the challenge is not choosing between remote and in-person work but designing systems that support both. Transparency, communication, and trust are now strategic advantages. Technology can make this balance easier, but leaders must commit to clarity about how and why they use it.
For Hood, AI is a tool much like the calculator once was for engineers. Some mastered it; others focused on explaining its outcomes. The same will happen with AI. The professionals who learn how to use it effectively will lead the next wave of innovation.
AI Is Just Altering Skills, Not Erasing Them
Jeremy Fennema has spent more than twenty years guiding digital transformation inside enterprises. He sees AI as a partner that changes the rhythm of work rather than a replacement for it.
He noted that while some tech layoffs may reflect overreliance on automation, the larger reality is that AI is changing where skills are applied. Developers, for example, are no longer just writing code. With tools like AWS CodeWhisperer or ChatGPT-assisted coding, AI can now generate large sections of code on its own. The human task is evolving toward oversight, testing, and refinement.
Fennema warned of a growing risk: many developers are using AI-generated code without proper testing. This shortcut may lead to security vulnerabilities and quality issues. Future software professionals will need to blend technical curiosity with accountability, ensuring that AI remains a trustworthy collaborator.
He also emphasized how this extends beyond engineering. In fields like finance or operations, AI can now assist with complex data tasks that once took hours or days. The real power comes from using AI as an assistant that speeds up discovery, while humans maintain judgment and ethical oversight.
A General-Purpose Revolution
Ram Srinivasan approaches AI from a broader lens. With experience spanning consulting, research, and enterprise adoption, he sees today’s generative AI wave as part of a much longer story.
Artificial intelligence already lives in many forms: navigation systems, social media algorithms, financial trading platforms, and computer vision tools. What is new is the generative layer that creates rather than reacts. Srinivasan describes this as a general-purpose technology, one that can be applied to almost any type of work, much like electricity or the personal computer once were.
According to him, generative AI is not a specialized enterprise platform that only experts can use. It is an open toolset available to everyone, capable of producing unique outcomes based on how individuals direct it.
This shift reframes what it means to be skilled. Workers do not need to become engineers; they need to become directors — people who know how to guide intelligent systems toward meaningful results.
Srinivasan believes that AI’s growing capability, which now rivals human intelligence in some domains, should inspire curiosity rather than fear. The question is no longer whether AI is smart enough but how humans will use that intelligence to expand their own capacity for creativity, empathy, and impact.
Moving Beyond the Hype
All three leaders agree that AI’s true promise lies in partnership. Hood sees AI as a fairness engine in hiring. Fennema views it as a catalyst for better quality and speed in digital work. Srinivasan positions it as a universal tool that anyone can shape to their needs.
The organizations that succeed will be those that focus less on automating jobs and more on empowering people. AI can handle routine tasks, surface insights faster, and eliminate inefficiencies, but it still depends on human intention. If the goal is progress, not just profit, leaders will need to design systems where automation amplifies human capability rather than replaces it.
The Human Advantage
AI may think faster, but humans still give work its meaning. Creativity, context, and compassion remain irreplaceable traits. The future will not belong to those who resist technology, nor to those who embrace it blindly. It will belong to people who understand how to collaborate with it.
As Hood, Fennema, and Srinivasan each show in their work, artificial intelligence is not the end of human relevance. It is the beginning of a new partnership — one where technology handles the complexity, and humans lead with insight.
The real future of work is not man versus machine. It is humans who know how to work with machines creating a smarter, fairer, and more dynamic world.
