What Millennial Project Managers Are Feeling About AI—Are Their Jobs In Jeopardy?

When Venus Cuffs first began organizing events around New York City as a young twenty something, she utilized guerrilla marketing tactics to get the word out. Now in her mid-30s, more than a decade into her career as a nightlife producer and consultant, she’s had to rely on technology more than ever, and she’s not sure how to feel about it.

“I’ve always relied on traditional methods to project manage events for my firm or on behalf of my clients,” she said. “Now, I’m using predictive AI and generative platforms, essentially because I’m being forced to evolve.”

What was once word of mouth is now an algorithm finely tuned to social media data that predicts exact times when a person is likely show up for an event, or how much they’ll like pay for a ticket. While it can be a daunting to wrap her head around, Cuffs says she understands the benefit of implementing AI into her event planning process. She says she’s been playing around platforms like Zoho CRM and Mya Systems which streamline customer relationship management, vendor & supplier coordination and other event logistics. Other platforms like Shotgun and Dice are “more helpful with actually marketing events” since they have integrated email list distribution capabilities and analyzes consumer buying patterns.

“I’m still a bit leery about relying too heavily on AI-based project management tools, because I am a project manager and I’m in a business driven by humanity. I don’t want to lose that.”

Taylor Capito, 30, on the other hand, has fully embraced AI and has built a machine learning company GenRAIT to help others lean into the revolution as well.

“In a startup, a lot of times you don’t even have the funding or the capacity to hire a project manager,” Capito says. She explains that her team often uses AI-driven platforms like JIRA, Slack and Google Suite products to handle admin or logistical tasks themselves. “It can be heavy on the brain to try and organize things long-hand,” she says. “It takes away from where the mind should really be focusing, like creating strategies and forging important investor relationships.”

But much like Cuffs, Capito acknowledges the valid fears some people have about how AI could affect their career viability in the future.

“You can do more with less,” Capito says. “We have it at our fingertips. Now, as for the fear of putting information into the AI, that’s a legitimate fear. That’s reasonable. I would say find the AI solutions that ethically align with you.”

According to recent survey data, millennials have expressed concern about AI, with around 82% stressing about AI could negatively impact their job security and pay, particularly regarding potential job displacement due to automation. This worry is often linked to the fear of being replaced by AI-powered systems in their workplace.

Cuffs adds, “Although I understand that we can’t ignore the future, I do want to make sure I don’t lose the human touch, and honestly, I think that’s what going to keep us alive in the workforce, literally and figuratively.”