Not the Death Knell for Jobs: Why AI Will Serve as A Positive Co-Pilot in Our Future Careers

Featured Pacific Telecommunications Council (PTC) 2026 Speaker: Provident Data Centers’ Jack Backes Talks About How AI Will Serve as A Positive Co-Pilot to Boost Human Potential 

When ChatGPT launched in late 2022, the world woke up to artificial intelligence almost overnight. With that attention came two divergent schools of thought: one predicting massive job losses and the other pointing to AI’s potential to transform work for the better.

Jack Backes, Principal Strategist at Provident Data Centers, takes the latter view. He sees AI not as a job killer, but as a way to augment human potential.

In this PTC26 presentation, Backes discusses the promise of AI to significantly transform the job market. Key points from his perspective:

• AI as enhancement, not replacement: Automates routine tasks so people can focus on higher-value work.

• Creation of new job categories: Roles like AI trainers, prompt engineers, and collaboration managers are already emerging.

• An imperative for new skills: Governments, educators, and businesses must invest in digital literacy and complementary human skills.

• A better future: Workforces built around human/AI collaboration that boost efficiency, drive economic growth, and open new opportunities.

To Backes, the future of work is not about job elimination, but about creating better, more meaningful roles through AI..