Artificial Intelligence (AI) does not replace analyst roles. It adds to capabilities of analysts, and productivity of the wider team.
Machines need to learn. Like humans, they are not built knowing, but need to be trained. The key advantage of machine learning is performing repetitive tasks with high accuracy across huge swathes of information. Machine learning insights always have room for error, and so need oversight. This is also known as “humans in the loop”. This has been around for a long time, for example pilots, and auto-pilots. It will also be around for a long time to come.
Good analysts need creative thinking and need to be able to contextualize. Machines do not innovate, they process and evolve. This means that the role of analysts has shifted and will continue to shift. Rather than focus on tasks in which machines excel, analysts can get to the next level using machines. This is also known as expert automation.
As machines train and learn, analysts need to do the same. The opportunities for analysts has increased, and so has the rate of learning. So as machines train, analysts must also train. With the growth in online learning, this has never been easier. If you are not keeping up with analytics skills, other analysts undoubtedly are. This means that other analysts will be taking your job, not the machines!
