I'm building my own AI replacement

AI doesn't replace engineers. It makes visible what engineering actually is.

Whenever AI releases a new model, two questions follow: what is it capable of, and will it replace my job? The latter quickly became: when will it replace my white-collar job? I saw it on LinkedIn, in podcasts, across every platform where engineers talk. Companies using AI as a bridge between customer and sales, chatbots handling requests that used to require a person. I eventually asked myself the same question. At the same time, I was asked if I can help with an internal project around AI in systems engineering. Which makes the question real: does that imply I am building my own replacement? Suddenly, I felt the need to find an answer to that question. My first tasks were to identify use-cases and map them to business cases, where we could test the AI assistant on a real-world project. While I see the possibilities that AI can do a lot in the field of systems engineering – among others, creating requirements specification or system architecture – which leads me to the position where I am building an AI system that can assist us in systems engineering and potentially replace me.

We started with verification and validation – not because AI can’t do more, but because we needed to prove the basics work first. And while doing that, I realised something: the tasks AI handles first are exactly the ones humans do worst. Repetitive checks, pattern matching, copy-paste errors, and ensuring that standards are upheld in documents. So why requirements? On the one hand, fixing a requirement costs more and more depending on the development stage. A requirement error that is caught in the design phase is cheaper to fix compared to when it is found during acceptance testing. On the other hand, requirements engineering is one of the first steps of systems engineering. If we master the basics, we can compound more tasks and disciplines.

So when AI can do a repetitive task as well as humans, does it imply it can replace me? Or does adding more tasks that AI can do imply I will be replaced step by step? If we take my AI assistant and continue to add tasks and engineering disciplines, we thereby create a closed-loop system: where the AI performs safety and security analysis, where risks need to be mitigated by requirements, those then have to be verified and validated. Based on those requirements, the architecture has to be updated, and lastly, test specifications have to be created. It is a very futuristic-sounding image, but not that far from the present. It is only a matter of time before we see AI do one of those tasks fully autonomously. If we take that picture of the closed-loop system, we can argue that, yes, I am building my own replacement – slowly but steadily.

According to an Anthropic study [1], AI doesn’t create structures; it works within them. Well-structured inputs lead to consistent outputs. But consistency is not the same as correctness. The vice versa is also true: poorly structured inputs increase the likelihood of inconsistent or unreliable outputs. It is important to mention that this is not only true for me and my situation – It is true for everyone. Which means AI can only replace me if the underlying structure is already there. In other words, AI first and foremost makes workflows visible, and the AI result tells us about the state of those workflows. While a lot of industries have good workflows in place that can be automated, automation does not automatically mean replacement. So does AI replace me?

Even though I am working from within, I can’t see that far into the future. So I don’t know. However, if AI only amplifies structure – and we are the ones defining that structure – then maybe the question answers itself: it won’t replace me. Because I think AI will do two things: on the one hand, highlight the value of the current workflow faster; if the output is not as imagined, the AI is not to blame – the workflow is. On the other hand, when it does a lot of the mechanical work, it will change what I spend my time on, solving problems in a new way.

This is my take on the current situation, but the question is not only mine to answer. The question should be answered by everyone. Lastly, there is the question underneath: “How can AI assist us so we can solve problems in a way we haven’t had the chance to try before?”

[1] Anthropic Economic Index report: Economic primitives \ Anthropic