Introductions

Jay Bradford: What is going on? It is Jay and Michael here on the IT Directors Podcast, powered by Clear Winds, and we have our founder, president, and CEO, Stan Sargent. Stan, how are you doing this morning?

Stan Sargent: Doing great. Appreciate y’all having me on again.

Jay Bradford: Man, hey, look, we are so glad to have you on today, Stan.

Stan Sargent: Yeah, love what y’all are doing with this.

Jay Bradford: Oh, well, thank you. You know, Michael makes all of the magic happen over here with us.

Michael Thomas: But then we’ve got the brains over here with Jay and our special guest stars.

Jay Bradford: Yes, exactly. So today we’re talking about an amazing topic that I think all of our listeners and viewers are going to love: will I be replaced by AI? Will it take my job? I think that’s a question, Stan, that a lot of people are asking in every line of business — not just technology, but every business. So Stan, just tell us a little bit about your thoughts around that. I know in your role you hear people come to you all the time asking, “Stan, will AI replace me?” or “Am I going to be replaced?” or “Is this job going to be eliminated?” What do you think about that?

Is AI Actually New? Understanding How We Got Here

Stan Sargent: Well, let me just say first thing — AI is not necessarily new. I mean, the concept has been around for years and years, but the one thing about AI is it is moving incredibly fast. The innovations and things that are coming in AI are really amazing. So you’re seeing a lot of things that have really drastically changed over the last year, six months, three months. A good example is that OpenAI used to own about 75% of the enterprise business in December. By the end of March, 75% was owned by Anthropic. I mean, that’s how fast it is moving and how fast things are changing and the innovations that are happening in AI. So yes, there could be some real concern about whether AI is going to take your job, but there’s also a lot of opportunity in AI that will really help you do your job better and hopefully improve your organization.

Michael Thomas: I know the question of “will it take my job” has been a concern. Where do you think this fear has come from, and is it justified?

Stan Sargent: Well, I don’t know if you guys have seen it on social media, but at these commencement addresses where these big Fortune 500 guys are speaking, they start talking about AI and guess what? They’re getting booed. Because that is the impression among these college students, and I think it carries over to people who already have jobs. Yes, I mean, they feel like AI is going to take their job. But the one good thing about AI is this — this tool is a probability tool. I kind of always think about, if anybody saw the first Iron Man where he throws something on this table and all of a sudden it blows up and it’s all around him — this kind of 3D hologram that he’s looking at from different data points. That’s kind of how I think about AI. It’s this 3D model that you speak into, and it’s going to take each word and turn it into a token. When it turns it into a token, it’s saying, “Okay, hey, I’m going to look and see where those tokens are on my 3D model,” and it’s trying to associate those. So if all those words are coming in close together, then it’s going to give you an answer that deals with that area of the AI model. So it’s kind of predicting — “Okay, hey, I think your answer is going to be in this area.” That’s kind of the interesting thing about how AI works. It’s really about being able to understand how AI works and being able to speak to it and analyze the answers the AI is giving you. And that’s really where the jobs are going to be.

Michael Thomas: I just have to say, I love that we’ve brought Jarvis into this as well. That paints a clear picture.

Jay Bradford: Yeah, that’s right. You know, you touched on something there, Stan — will it replace my job? Certainly it will replace some jobs that become obsolete. But hey, guess what? We don’t do what we did in the ’60s, ’50s, ’70s, and ’80s, so those things happen organically. I think as a whole we get so scared when we hear these words, but these things have been happening across generations for years, right?

Jobs Always Change: Lessons from the Industrial Revolution

Stan Sargent: That’s a good point. Yeah. So think about when the internet started coming up. Everybody said, “Oh goodness, the internet is going to take my job.” But the thing is, it did take some jobs, but then more jobs were created, right? People adapt. When computers came out, people said, “Oh, the computer is going to take my job.” But you know, everybody adapts, and jobs are different, but they’re not the exact same as they were. Go all the way back to the Industrial Revolution. I mean, “It’s taking my jobs — I used to have all these guys working out in the fields, and all my jobs are going away because now I’ve got machinery doing it.” But guess what? The jobs change. But here’s the thing — each one of these advancements makes you more productive. Makes companies more productive. Other organizations, municipalities, education — it gives them more information that they can teach to their students and things like that, and it makes companies more profitable. So those are the kinds of things that say, hey, there are still jobs out there, and probably the same number of jobs, but the jobs have changed.

Jay Bradford: Yeah, and I think you brought up a great point, Stan. As an IT director, the question shouldn’t be “how do we eliminate jobs?” It’s how do we use these tools to make our people better and our organization better?

Stan Sargent: Yeah, exactly.

Jay Bradford: And hey, at Clear Winds, that’s what we’re doing, right? We’re doing a consulting business around automation and business processes to help organizations use AI to better their organization. Because I think a lot of people don’t even understand how to go about doing that. It’s so vast.

Michael Thomas: It’s so vast, no doubt. I feel like we’re still on the front end for a majority of the population, and so there’s that unknown, and sometimes fear can hit that unknown. But it’s really this idea of — hey, we’ve seen these evolutions happen before, so it’s less about replacing and more about changing. There is a shift. And the question is: how will it change my job?

Stan Sargent: That’s right.

Which Jobs Will Be Most Impacted by AI?

Michael Thomas: Do you guys have on the top of your minds an example of a job that has been changed by AI?

Stan Sargent: Right. Yeah. Well, the thing is, like I said, AI is moving so quickly that people really haven’t thought about what the new jobs are going to be or which jobs are getting eliminated. My prediction is that a lot of the jobs initially that will be getting eliminated are probably the lower-end data entry and efficiency-type jobs — things that from an admin standpoint, an HR standpoint, and a financial standpoint can really be eliminated because AI can do a lot of that work.

Jay Bradford: Yeah.

Stan Sargent: But somebody still has to control the information going in and has to look at the information coming out. So now you’re really going to need some really good analysts who are looking at the data, making sure it’s right, that the reporting is correct, and being able to structure those prompts. Prompt engineering is a real thing. How do you speak to AI to get the right response out of it?

And one of the things — like you mentioned, hey, we’ve gotten into this really heavily at Clear Winds, and we’ve learned a lot. And Jay, I mean, you put together a sales app that has done a lot of great things to help improve our speed of quoting and doing proposals and really getting information into the outside salesperson’s hands so that as they’re talking to clients and customers, they can give them information right then. They don’t have to say, “Hey, let me check back in and find that out.” There’ll still be those moments, but they can get more information out quickly.

Michael Thomas: Yeah, and I’d say that’s a perfect example of a job that has changed and become more efficient. And what we’ve learned how to do is use this advancement to cut through hours’ worth of work. Did it replace those people? No. It enabled some to focus more on an area that deserves their time and helps them to be more effective, while cutting through the noise and giving a near-immediate response from what would’ve taken hours. So that’s another example of something that wasn’t replaced — it became more efficient and effective.

Jay Bradford: Exactly, yeah. It enhances it. You know, think about admin assistants. Every C-suite office, every executive — normally we have assistants and admins in every department. Those admins are not getting eliminated, but those admins now have to be able to use these tools to automate tasks for them. Because now one admin might be managing six virtual admins. And then the whole organization is more productive. And I think that’s what scares people — especially middle-aged people who are in these roles. They’re like, “Oh my gosh, I don’t really know AI. I don’t know technology. I’m used to scheduling meetings for the CEO.” But now AI tools can do that, but you still have to put the information in.

Stan Sargent: There’s no doubt. I mean, your job can still be safe, but you have to learn the new tools.

Jay Bradford: You’ve got to use the tools.

Stan Sargent: That’s right. Yeah. So AI is a great thing that can really increase productivity in an organization, make you more efficient, help you mine data. But the thing is, you have to be able to utilize the tools. So really what it comes down to in these organizations is being more productive. As a CEO, what are they looking at? Revenue. Profits. And how can we do things better? So as an IT director, hey, this is a fantastic opportunity for you to really go after the bottom line of a company. And I’m like, every CEO out there thinks, “Okay, IT is a cost — it’s a necessary evil to do my job.” So the thing is, with AI, this is something that can really help the bottom line of the company. You can make it more efficient, you can get people to actually do more with the same effort, which is great. So those kinds of things really do affect the bottom line, which can help bring in additional revenue, maybe additional margin on products, and make the same person handle a whole lot more than they initially did.

AI for Data-Driven Decision Making

Jay Bradford: Well, and then making data-driven decisions. When I think about you, Stan, in your role as president and CEO of a company, you want to be able to look at one single pane and see your whole organization.

Stan Sargent: No doubt.

Jay Bradford: And that’s what everyone is asking for. Like Michael, as sales and marketing director, you want to be able to look at all the funnels, look at all your team members — and AI gives us the tools to do that. And that’s where I think we come in to help people get over that hump and help our IT directors that are listening. If you have the data source, the AI tools can help us build that dashboard. And that’s what CEOs need and want and desire. Because you don’t have time, Stan, to go through hundreds of reports or emails a day. You just want to look at the data and say, “Okay, boom, here we go.”

Stan Sargent: That’s right.

Jay Bradford: And I think that’s where, in this industry and in this timeframe, our generation of children — they’re used to having everything instant. Clicking video, Instagram, YouTube, whatever. They don’t want to dig through all this stuff. And I think now that generation is in the workforce. They don’t have time and they don’t have the patience. So that’s where AI helps deliver that data quicker. And we can be speed-of-business while being accurate with these decisions.

Stan Sargent: That’s right. Yeah. And that’s kind of one thing you mentioned about the kids coming out of college, and it’s funny that they were booing. I’m sure these guys in college have probably been using AI a lot for their tests. My son uses it all the time at his school. So it’s funny that they probably have all used it. So it’s interesting, but the thing is, they’re going to be way more prepared to get into the AI game than somebody who’s been in their mid-40s — which is kind of interesting. Not to say the person in their mid-40s can’t do it. Hey, you just have to apply yourself and get it done. It was interesting when I was learning prompt engineering — I actually called my youngest son and said, “Hey, tell me, when you’re trying to look something up, what would your prompt be?” And he just explained to me exactly what I had just learned. He had already known about that, but he didn’t even realize he knew it. That’s just how he functions.

Jay Bradford: My son was 12, Stan, and he saw me one day when we were developing some of the sales stuff here internally. He said, “Dad, you’re using ChatGPT and Claude. I use ChatGPT all the time on my phone and my Chromebook at school.” And I’m like, “That’s so funny.” It’s just part of what they do. And I think that’s where we have to adapt, because I think we’re in a really unique time. Our generation is mostly in the upper echelon of executives in these workforces and didn’t come up with these tools. And then you have a generation below you that is pushing the envelope because they’re used to speed of business at a much faster pace. And so I think that’s where IT directors get scared. They get nervous because we hear guardrails and security and all these things, but at the end of the day, we’re not stopping it. AI is only moving forward and faster, so we have to learn to adapt with it. And Stan, I think you’ve done a great job as our CEO in leading us and giving us the ability to explore these tools.

How IT Directors Can Lead the AI Charge

Stan Sargent: Yeah, so you kind of mentioned that. At our company, I feel like I’m the guy that led the charge. I mean, you came on and you knew a lot about AI. We’ve got some other guys that were using AI, but I really feel like I was the one pushing it as a CEO. But the thing is, that doesn’t always have to be the case. The CEO doesn’t have to lead that charge. An IT director can lead that charge, but he has to get his executive staff on board. But like I say, it’s an excellent opportunity for somebody at your organization to lead the charge, and if you do, there are some great things that can happen.

Michael Thomas: Well, and even bringing this in line with our audience — let’s talk with your average IT director. As we’re looking at roles and different things that can be impacted, what are the roles that you would say, from an IT standpoint in this industry, would be most impacted by these advances in AI versus those that might be a little further off into the future?

Stan Sargent: Yeah, so I mean, any kind of data entry, probably the lower-end tasks — like deep research, building reports, doing things from an efficiency standpoint to gather information, process it, and get those things out. Those things are definitely areas that will be affected by AI and will really reduce the amount of work in those areas. Now, the areas that won’t be affected are going to be things with an emotional attachment. So we mentioned sales — outside salespeople, there still has to be a face-to-face. I mean, there has to be. Nursing — I mean, hey, you have to have healthcare with people who can understand and diagnose things by looking at people. I heard a story just recently about a lady who had been sick for years. She was sitting in a hospital lobby, and a female doctor walked through and noticed something on her feet. She came back and said, “Hey, come tell me about what’s going on.” Asked her a few questions, said, “Okay, what tests have they run?” She said, “I’ll be right back.” She went and talked to the attending doctor, said, “Hey, I want to run a couple of tests because I think I know what’s wrong with her.” She came back and said, “Okay, you’re my patient now.” She ran those two tests and diagnosed her really quickly. But that was just something she noticed — a symptom for something that was not that common, but something she knew about. I mean, hey, you’re not going to have an AI machine walk by and probably be able to identify that.

Jay Bradford: Well, yeah, that’s life experience, right?

Michael Thomas: Yeah, and that’s the human element. And even in my seat — like what we were talking about a minute ago — you can use the information you receive not to tell you what to think. No, I still have a brain and I know how to use it. I know how to use my data. I can take my experience from my seat, and I know how to read this. But what AI can do for me is simplify the process altogether and paint a better picture. That way I can use my experience to help me read it and navigate what comes up.

Stan Sargent: Sure. So part of what you’re going to see is that the jobs that will be eliminated today are those lower-end data entry jobs. I mean, like I say, this technology is changing so fast. So you just don’t know exactly what the future holds, but right now those are the ones. But you still have to have somebody who can speak to AI in the proper way to get the right answer. The other thing you have to be able to do is have somebody analyze that information. And then the other thing that is going to be really critical is the security of this. You have to make sure that you’re not putting something into AI that can create security concerns. One of the areas I haven’t mentioned yet is development. Development is going to be really enhanced by AI. It’s going to be able to do a lot of that development and programming work on the front end. And which is great — it’ll get you 80 to 90% there — but there still has to be somebody to look at it and ask, “Is this the most efficient way? Can I make it more efficient? Is it secure?” Now again, AI can help you with those tasks, but somebody has to be controlling that, looking at it, and giving it some human thought to figure it out.

One of the things is that AI in general is programmed to be very positive. So it’s not going to throw up roadblocks. It’s going to be more agreeable. So you give it a prompt, and it’s going to try to give you what it thinks is the right answer, and it will come across as very confident that, “Hey, I’m giving you the right answer.” So it’s pretty interesting. My brother-in-law sent me a text one day with a little meme he had gotten. The person asks AI, “Is this mushroom edible?” And it says, “Yes.” Then the next screen shows a grave site where the guy has died, and the AI says, “Hmm, yes, you were right — that was poisonous. Would you like to learn more about poisonous mushrooms?” So it’s just very agreeable, because it wants to agree with you. But sometimes you have to structure your prompting to tell it, “Hey, I need you to be more pragmatic and tell me what’s wrong with this thing.”

Michael Thomas: No, I think that’s funny. “Can I eat it?” “Sure, you can definitely eat it. Will it kill you? Yeah, absolutely, but you can still eat it.” Yeah, right.

The Human Element: Why Life Experience Still Matters

Jay Bradford: You know, what’s intriguing — you mentioned it, and both of you guys mentioned something about life experience, knowledge, and the human element. Like, that never goes away. Look how far we’ve come in technology in 100 years, right? But you still have — my wife works in the healthcare industry. She tells me all the time, “Hey, look, doctors call it practicing medicine for a reason.” Because some of them are better than others, right? Just like mechanics and just like engineers. We have an amazing engineering staff with 25, 30, 40 years of experience. You can’t replace those years of experience with an AI tool. An AI tool is going to give you some roadmap for how to diagnose a firewall issue. But 30 years of life experience — you walk up and you can identify it exactly because you’ve experienced that same thing before. So I think that’s where we really have to stress to our IT directors that life experience and knowledge, coupled with these AI tools, is what makes you so great and valuable. And that’s where you’re going to see doctors get better, attorneys get better — all of us will be better in our professions because we have more tools to help us. And if we’re not using those tools, we’re going to get passed up.

Stan Sargent: Yeah, I think a lot of people are going to be using AI to help them with their job — whether it’s a doctor helping them diagnose, but hey, you still have to have the knowledge to ask, “Is that the right diagnosis?” You mentioned legal. Legal is a good area to look at because there’s a lot of automation that can happen with AI. A lot of that deep research that paralegals have to do — I mean, all that can be done. Even transcriptions — all that kind of stuff happens in the legal industry. There’s a ton that can be helped. But somebody still has to take all that consolidated data and information and make the decisions.

Michael Thomas: Yeah. And I know we’re kind of talking about other industries, so what are the industries you’ve seen most impacted by these advances in AI? I know legal is definitely one, but are there others that come to mind?

Which Industries Are Moving Fastest with AI?

Stan Sargent: Well, probably the number one right now is the technology area. You’ve seen the Magnificent Seven — they’re all doing layoffs, and it’s because they’re getting more efficient with what they’re doing in AI.

Michael Thomas: Tell us what the Magnificent Seven are for those who don’t know.

Stan Sargent: Okay. The Magnificent Seven are the technology companies that have the largest market cap. So you’re talking about NVIDIA, Meta, Google, Amazon — those companies. There are seven of them, and I know I’m probably missing a couple. But anyway, if you look, they’re all doing layoffs, and other companies are doing layoffs too. Now, here’s the thing — all these companies, when they do layoffs, they’re still hiring. They’re just reorganizing. They’re getting different people. I know several of them for a fact — they lay off every single year, but they’re still hiring, because what they do is get rid of low performers and hire more people. I mean, this is even before AI, right? But now AI even magnifies it, because they have a lens into more data that gives them better decision-making. And then they can see the difference — because sometimes the human element might say, “Well, hey, you know, Jimmy is doing great.” Well, Jimmy’s not really doing that great once you look at the dashboard. You just thought he was. So I think that’s what gives us in leadership a good lens to help. But IT directors really have to embrace this tool. Because we talked about Juniper with Marvis, the AI bot — that’s not stopping, it’s only growing. Cisco’s going to have one, Aruba’s going to have one, Ruckus is going to have one — some of them already do. All these organizations and manufacturers are developing these tools.

Jay Bradford: And it’s not to replace the engineers — it’s to just make their lives a little easier. So we have to adapt. And IT directors — people in IT sometimes get stuck in their ways of doing things, but we have to learn to adapt and shift. Because if we don’t, these things can move past us.

Stan Sargent: No doubt. And it’s changing so rapidly. I mean, very, very rapidly. You know, I’ll give you a real-world example.

Jay Bradford: Yeah. I had a personal friend of mine — she called me up and said, “Jay Bird, I’m the secretary of my HOA,” and she took meeting minutes and recorded a video. She said, “Aren’t there some AI tools that can help me transcribe this?” And I said, “Hey, look, our marketing team uses this tool called Descript.” I said, “Let me see your video.” So she texted it to me. I loaded it into Descript, put it into Claude, and said, “Make an HOA board meeting summary.” It picked out every voice, identified every board member by name, and produced a beautiful document. I sent it back to her in like two minutes. She had been to the Geek Squad, she had looked online, she had tried all these things. She said, “This is incredible.” And I told her in about three minutes how to do it herself. And that’s how AI is making people’s lives easier.

Stan Sargent: It is, no doubt. One thing — getting back to the different industries — yeah, we mentioned legal. Really every organization, even healthcare — I know we talked about how a lot of that will still be human-driven, but I was thinking about this just this morning. In healthcare, one of the things that takes a lot of time and usually a lot of people is medical coding for insurance.

Jay Bradford: Oh, 100%.

Stan Sargent: So you go to the doctor, they diagnose you or it’s a wellness visit or whatever, and all that data comes to essentially coders. What they do is code everything so the insurance will pay for it. Well, guess what? A lot of that can be done by AI. That can be programmed.

Jay Bradford: You know, I hadn’t even thought about that until you just mentioned it. But that is huge. I can remember in the early 2000s, the medical coders. They had certificate programs and these people made good money — but all they were doing was reading, transcribing, and putting in a code. Now you just feed it a spreadsheet or a PDF and it puts it in there.

Stan Sargent: That’s right.

Michael Thomas: Do you feel like there are some industries moving faster than others?

Stan Sargent: Yeah. Well, like I said, definitely technology. I definitely see that moving very quickly. It’s hard to say industries, but let me say areas of expertise. I do think sales is one area that’s moving very quickly with automated tools — like I said, we have a tool ourselves. Even business development has really enhanced what people can do in that area. Anything that has to do with coding, we’ve talked about legal. There’s also a lot of things happening in manufacturing today that can make your information a lot better through AI. I mean, it’s hard to say that one industry is moving faster than another, except for maybe technology since I’ve seen it the most. But pretty much every business and organization — I say business, but I mean municipalities and education too — there is just an enormous amount of efficiency you can gain from AI that will overall save you money, make you more efficient, and allow you to do more with a single individual, a single employee. So those are the kinds of things I look at when I think about what’s moving faster. There are areas in every industry that can be moving very fast right now.

Michael Thomas: Or should be. What about on the flip side of that — do you feel like you’ve seen some industries or areas that may have moved too fast or had some type of mistake along the way?

Stan Sargent: Yeah, so that’s interesting. It’s hard to say if you’re moving too fast because AI itself is moving so fast. Yes, are you going to try things that aren’t going to work? Yes. And that’s going to happen, especially right now because the technology — like I say, it’s been around for a while, but it has grown so fast in the past year or two years that it’s kind of dizzying how quickly it’s moving. So yes, have mistakes happened? Yes. I mean, the prompt engineering is one of the keys I really think about — if you’re feeding the wrong prompt into it, you’re going to get the wrong answer, right? Or if you’re not super detailed. So I think that’s kind of the learning process. A lot of mistakes do happen from prompt engineering. Now, don’t get me wrong — AI, just in the past year, has improved so much. Hey, something that you fed it a year ago, now you get a completely, totally better answer.

Jay Bradford: Oh yeah, totally different. Just because of the framework it’s built upon. I’ve been blown away by how rapidly AI has advanced itself. You know, Anthropic, OpenAI, Grok, all these different tools — but all of them have advanced at a rapid pace.

The Cost of AI and the ROI for Organizations

Stan Sargent: They have. They have.

Jay Bradford: You know, one question we haven’t really talked about is the cost — for IT directors and for organizations — because there is a cost associated with using AI. And I’ve kind of gone back and forth on this in my own personal life. I have subscriptions to two or three different ones because I was using a bunch of different tools. But at some point, that cost is going to grow, or there’s going to be some structural change around it, because they’re building these huge data centers to do the mining and the processing and the memory behind all this. So what do you think from an overall technology perspective about the cost of AI and utilizing these tools, and the ROI for having them in your organization?

Stan Sargent: Yeah. I mean, do I believe the ROI is there? Yes. We’re actually seeing a change right now in the pricing of AI. It used to be that a lot of people were using OpenAI, ChatGPT, and paying about 20 bucks a month or using the free version. And those things are still possible, but now a lot of the AI companies are saying, “Okay, hey, we’re going to charge based on usage.” How many tokens are you using, and things like that. So there’s going to be more of a usage fee. You may be paying 20 bucks a month, but then there’s a usage fee on top of that. So you can use it so much, but at some point you’re going to get charged extra if you want to go beyond that. And I’m sure a lot of people out there have seen that — where you’re working on a project and it says, “Okay, come back in four hours, and then you can finish that project.” So we’re already seeing those limits. But even with that, I really feel like the ROI is amazing, honestly. I think you’re going to see not just 20% more productivity. No, I think you’re going to see three times, four times, five times as much work productivity using AI than you do just doing things the way you do them today.

Jay Bradford: I couldn’t agree more, Michael, with that assessment. Just in my own little role in our organization — I couldn’t survive without the AI tools I use, because I’m serving multiple sales agents and different people in our organization. Hey, it has helped me be more productive. I couldn’t imagine doing my daily tasks without the AI tools we’ve put in place now. And so I think about just on me personally — the return has been huge. And so I think about attorneys doing legal research on past cases. You have someone who has to go into the law library and do all that research — AI can mine all that data. Doctor research for different infectious diseases — it can pull that data instantly. On diagnosis. And these things rapidly change the way people function in their daily lives.

Is My Job Safe? The Honest Answer

Michael Thomas: No, I think it’s good. And hey, even in terms of our industry and our audience being IT directors — I know there’s this question we’ve even been asked: “Is my job safe?” That’s a relative term, but how would you respond to that?

Stan Sargent: Well, I kind of always think about it this way — no job is completely safe, right? It’s always up for debate whether your job is safe. Now, who is safe? Usually the person doing the best job. If you’re doing your job to its fullest and looking for other opportunities to contribute to a business — and I’m just talking about in general — you’re probably going to be safe. Your boss is going to be like, “Wow, this person is going above and beyond.” I mean, hey, if a layoff happened, I have to keep them, right? So that’s kind of how you have to look at it. But with AI, you are going to have to embrace it. You’re going to have to use the tools and learn the tools. And there are a lot of things you can do. One thing that we’re doing is an AI readiness assessment. Get an AI readiness assessment — from us or from somebody else who understands how AI works and can look at your organization to see where efficiencies can come in and help you develop applications or the way you’ll use the tool. You can build that and offer a better solution with the AI readiness assessment. You’ll find out what areas you can really improve. And then your team can go after that, or you can bring in someone like us who can really help you develop those workflows to help improve the way your business works.

So one of the things I know we talked about — the Magnificent Seven, the bigger companies — it’s more than just them. Fortune 500 companies, they’ve spent a lot of time looking at AI and really embracing it and trying to increase productivity with the same amount of people, right? But the thing is, small and medium businesses just haven’t looked at it as much. I mean, it’s still new, and that’s where a lot of the fear comes in — from those organizations.

Concrete Steps to Prepare for AI in Your Organization

Michael Thomas: I think so. And then for those listening who’ve been with us on this journey and realize, yes, this is here and I do need to do something about it — I know we kind of talked about readiness assessments and things like that. But for those individuals, what are some concrete steps you would tell our listeners to take in order to prepare and be more effective in their organization?

Stan Sargent: Yeah. So like I said, the AI readiness assessment is a good way to start. And get a training plan. Start looking at some of the training that’s out there. There’s more and more of it. Like I said, a lot of it is fairly new because it’s progressed that quickly. But there is some training out there that you can get — some of it for free, some of it does cost money. But those can definitely help. The other thing is — get a tool. Get an AI tool, maybe a generic one like Anthropic or OpenAI or something like that. Or if you’ve got something specific to your field, whether it’s in marketing, sales, healthcare, or whatever — there are AI tools already created for these specialties. So download one and just start playing with it, because it doesn’t really cost that much. I mean, like I keep mentioning, 20 bucks. Or some of them are free to start. Just play around with it. I’ll be honest with you, that’s kind of how I entered it. I already had a couple of tools and used them sporadically. But when I really got to the point of “okay, we need to make this an area that we truly embrace,” I really took those two tools, got another one, and just started playing around with them. Entering prompts. I watched a lot of YouTube videos, just trying to understand how I can use these tools and how I can get better at them. I had a lot of talks with you, Jay. About “hey, how are you using it?” And with James, who was on the last podcast — I talked to him a lot. And the thing is, hey, you can get better at it through your prompting and things like that. Honestly, I would even put it in voice mode. I’d be riding down the road on a four-hour drive by myself, and I’d just put it in voice mode and start talking to it, let it talk back to me, and we’d have a conversation. All I was doing was trying to improve my ability to work with AI. So just like I said — get the tool and play around with it. That can really improve your ability with it.

Closing Thoughts

Jay Bradford: Man, that is fantastic. Look, Michael, this has been an amazing episode. I think our listeners and viewers, Stan, are going to love this. Because I’m going to go back and watch this myself — I’ve gained a lot of knowledge just from listening to us talk about it. It sparks new ideas. And so look, for all of our listeners and viewers, go follow us on all of the social media platforms. We appreciate you listening. Big shout-out to everybody that makes this podcast happen, and we thank you for tuning in to this episode on “Will AI Replace Me?” And I think you learned that it will not — you just have to learn to get better, use the tools, be more productive, and help market yourself. So hey, look, come see us, come visit us, and we appreciate you. This is Clear Winds with the IT Directors Podcast, and we are out.

Will AI Replace You? Not If You Make Artificial Intelligence and Problem Solving Part of Your Strategy

The answer to “will AI take my job?” has never been clearer — and as Stan Sargent lays out in this episode, it has less to do with artificial intelligence and problem solving technology itself, and everything to do with whether you are willing to learn and adapt. From the Industrial Revolution to the Magnificent Seven tech giants doing layoffs while still hiring, history consistently shows that the people who embrace new tools do not get replaced by them — they get elevated by them. Start with an AI readiness assessment, build a training plan, get a tool and start playing with it, and make sure you have humans in the loop reviewing what AI produces. The IT directors and business leaders who treat artificial intelligence and problem solving as a strategic advantage — rather than a threat — are the ones who will lead their organizations into the next era. Subscribe to the IT Directors Podcast on Spotify, LinkedIn, and Instagram, and visit clearwinds.net for show notes, resources, and more.