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History Is a Great Teacher

I’m not about to get into the benefits of studying history, but history is a very good teacher!

I came across a very interesting paper called “Robots at Work”. It’s a 2018 study, so not some ancient research, and it looks into the economical impact of using robots at work and how it impact employment. I

If history repeats itself (and it often does), AI adoption may follow a similar path to industrial robot adoption in manufacturing.

It’s funny that once I started working on this blog, I saw this post on LinkedIn 😂

If you’re wondering how AI will change hiring and the job market in SEO and beyond, read on!

Robots at Work vs AI at Work

The “Robots at work” study blew my mind. It looked at “industrial robots” - which does not look like pop culture, movie-style robot btw 😂 - and how they impacted employment and productivity of firms across 17 developing countries and 14 industries between 1993 and 2007.

Here’s what they found:

1. Massive Productivity Gains

Firms that adopted industrial robots saw substantial productivity improvements.

To put this into perspective, the productivity boost was comparable to the steam engine’s contribution in the 19th century.

That’s huge.

2. Diminishing Returns

BUT… the authors of the study also found diminishing marginal gains.

Translation:
More robots did not always mean proportionally more productivity.

At some point, the productivity curve plateaued. Adding more robots stopped producing dramatic results.

More is not always more.

3. No overall job loss

Read that again.

No overall job loss.

Total employment levels stayed stable.

BUT…

The share of low-skilled workers decreased. So while jobs weren’t eliminated overall, the composition of the workforce shifted.

4. What Happened to Wages?

Not much.

There may have been small wage increases, but most of the financial benefits went to the firms themselves.

No big surprise… the big players won again 🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️🤷‍♀️

5. Lower Prices for Consumers

Here’s the twist:

Robot adoption lowered production costs, which reduced prices for consumers.

Lower prices increased demand.

Higher demand meant more revenue for firms - again 😂

Translation to AI and SEO

So what does this mean for AI adoption in SEO and other industries?

If history repeats itself:

SEO firms adopting AI correctly will be able to increase their productivity massively. If you have not heard yet, but shopify released an internal mandate making AI adoption mandatory to all it’s employees! And that’s not just for developers or data analysts.

If you’re wondering how is that going so far? I couldn’t find solid numbers published yet, but came across this post:

Using AI just for the sake of using it, won’t help. Also more is not more. Trying to use AI for everything won’t make you more productive on the contrary. I’m seeing people complaining how AI made them actually slower. This maybe why… you need to make sure that your use case will actually benefit from automation.
Your skillset and experience are your main protection against layoffs because of AI. And of course you need to know how to use the tools efficiently.
Do not expect a bigger salary on the long run, maybe now many companies are offering high salaries for SEOs with some AI skills, but that’s mainly because of rarity… the more people learn to use AI, the more the market will bounce back to similar-ish wage levels…
Good news for firm owners! I recently talked about this with Fery Kaszoni on my podcast. He is investing even more in AI, so I asked him if that meant he was laying people off. He said the opposite — he’s actually hiring more. He explained that if before AI for example, one employee could produce about 5 reports per month. With AI, that same employee can now produce 15 reports. Because his team can do more work, he can lower his prices. Lower prices mean more customers. And more customers mean he needs to hire even more people. It was refreshing to hear from someone who’s using AI correctly.

And That’s a Wrap (Almost 😄)

So how will AI adoption change hiring in SEO? More advanced skillset will be expected, and knowledge on how to use AI will be a requirment.

The big question is, are you ready the shift?

That’s that for today folks and see you next newsletter!

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Disclaimer: LLMs were used to assist in wording and phrasing this blog.

SEO Riddler by Sara Taher

How AI Will Change Hiring for SEO