The Job AI Can’t Do
Block let almost 4,000 people go in February. That’s not a typo. They went from roughly 10,000 employees to under 6,000 in a single cut, and Jack Dorsey said the reason was AI.
Atlassian cut 10% of its global workforce a few weeks later, citing the “AI era.” Baker McKenzie, the law firm, is letting go of up to 1,000 people for the same reason. In the first quarter of 2026 alone, the tech industry laid off close to 79,000 workers, and nearly half of those cuts were officially blamed on AI replacing the need for humans.
So yeah, the fear is real. I get it.
Here’s the thing, though. There’s a study from HBR earlier this year that I can’t stop thinking about. They looked at why companies are actually doing these layoffs, and the finding was that most of the cuts aren’t happening because AI is doing the work better. They’re happening because executives think it will eventually. The headcount is getting cut based on AI’s potential, not its performance.
Let that sink in for a moment.
Companies are firing people for a future that hasn’t actually arrived yet.
A lot of people are losing their jobs to a thing that hasn’t replaced them, which is its own kind of horrifying. But it’s also useful information because it tells you something important about what the people doing the cutting actually believe AI can and can’t do.
The Pivot Point (for me)
Three days ago, will.i.am gave the undergraduate commencement address at WPI. WPI is my graduate alma mater, so I was paying attention.
He talked about AI taking jobs, and I expected the usual: “Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, AI is a tool, blah blah.” That’s not what he said.
What he said was this:
“Pick a problem, solve it. That solution is an industry.”
And then a few minutes later:
“This is the time for imagination. AI is not imagining. It’s regurgitation of the human imagination. Turn that off.”
I had to sit with that one.
Not because it’s some grand philosophical moment. Because it’s the cleanest articulation I’ve heard of what AI actually is and isn’t. And what the humans in the room are supposed to do about it.
AI is fantastic at solutions. It is genuinely bad at finding problems worth solving. It doesn’t wake up at 3 a.m. wondering why nobody has fixed something. It doesn’t notice that the person in front of it is struggling. It doesn’t have a stake. It will happily generate 47 variations of an answer to the wrong question and never tell you the question was wrong.
That’s the gap.
And that gap is where the work is for the time being, at least.
Reverse-Engineering the 5P Framework by Trust Insights™
If you know me, you know I have a framework for that. The 5P Framework by Trust Insights™ (Purpose, People, Process, Platform, Performance) is how I plan everything. The order is deliberate. You start with Purpose, because if you don’t know what you are trying to do, the rest doesn’t matter.
But will.i.am’s speech got me thinking about a different way to use it.
The 5P assumes you already know what problem you’re solving. You bring the Purpose. The framework helps you execute against it. That’s great when you’re inside an existing job, an existing business, an existing engagement.
What if you don’t have a Purpose yet? What if the actual problem in front of you is, “I don’t even know what I should be doing with the next ten years of my career”?
You can run the 5P in reverse, and the reverse version is a tool for finding your problem.
Here’s how:
Start with Performance. Not the project’s performance. Yours. What does a meaningful outcome look like for you? Not the answer your LinkedIn bio would give. The actual one. More autonomy? More income? Work that doesn’t make you hate Sundays? Be specific. “I want to make $200K working four days a week from home” is a Performance target. “I want to be successful” is not.
Then Platform. What do you have access to? And I don’t just mean AI tools, although obviously, yes. What’s your network? What’s your training? What’s the software you already know how to use? What’s the certification that opens doors? Inventory it honestly. Most people radically underestimate what they have here.
Then Process. What are you actually good at doing, repeatedly, without burning out? Not what you’re impressive at. What you can do on a Tuesday afternoon when you’re tired and still produce something useful. That’s your real Process capacity. Everything else is theater.
Then People. Who are the humans you understand? Whose problems do you see clearly because you’ve lived something similar? Whose language do you already speak? You will solve problems for people you understand, badly for people you don’t, and never for people you can’t be bothered to listen to.
And the answer that falls out the bottom is your Purpose. The intersection of “outcome I want” + “tools I have” + “work I can do” + “people I get.” That’s a problem that you are uniquely positioned to solve.
That’s the move. Not “what job should I apply for?” That’s the question AI is currently answering by removing your seat.
The real question is this: What problem that you can see, and most people can’t, are you going to solve?
The Reality Check
I don’t want to pretend the fear isn’t valid. It is. The layoffs are real, the disruption is real, and a lot of people are going to have to rebuild careers they didn’t choose to rebuild.
But the version of the future where everyone fights AI for the same shrinking set of jobs is the worst version. The better version, and I think will.i.am is right about this, is the one where more people stop applying to roles defined by others and start defining work around problems they’re uniquely qualified to see.
That is the thing AI cannot do. It cannot care. It cannot notice. It cannot decide what matters.
That is your job. It has always been your job. The technology just made it more obvious.
So, what’s the problem only you can see?
Run the 5P backward and find out.
*And if you want to learn how the 5P Framework by Trust Insights™ works in the forward direction (planning AI projects, change initiatives, marketing strategy), *start here*.
Are you seeking problems to solve or just accepting AI solutions? Reply to this email or join the conversation in our Free Slack community, Analytics for Marketers!
– Katie Robbert, CEO
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Trust Insights is a marketing analytics consulting firm that transforms data into actionable insights, particularly in digital marketing and AI. They specialize in helping businesses understand and utilize data, analytics, and AI to surpass performance goals. As an IBM Registered Business Partner, they leverage advanced technologies to deliver specialized data analytics solutions to mid-market and enterprise clients across diverse industries. Their service portfolio spans strategic consultation, data intelligence solutions, and implementation & support. Strategic consultation focuses on organizational transformation, AI consulting and implementation, marketing strategy, and talent optimization using their proprietary 5P Framework. Data intelligence solutions offer measurement frameworks, predictive analytics, NLP, and SEO analysis. Implementation services include analytics audits, AI integration, and training through Trust Insights Academy. Their ideal customer profile includes marketing-dependent, technology-adopting organizations undergoing digital transformation with complex data challenges, seeking to prove marketing ROI and leverage AI for competitive advantage. Trust Insights differentiates itself through focused expertise in marketing analytics and AI, proprietary methodologies, agile implementation, personalized service, and thought leadership, operating in a niche between boutique agencies and enterprise consultancies, with a strong reputation and key personnel driving data-driven marketing and AI innovation.
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