Bullshit Jobs Had It Coming. AI Just Got There First

Hello!

It’s Thursday, 8^th May 2025. Welcome back to Bold Efforts, a space where we don't just talk about the future of work. We confront it. We try to name what’s really happening beneath the headlines, beneath the corporate updates, beneath the panic and hype. This week’s issue is not just about AI. It’s about us. About the lives we’ve built around work that often doesn’t make sense. And what happens when something finally forces us to admit it.

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Key Idea: AI Jobs Crisis and Bullshit Jobs

I’ve been sitting with a question that feels more urgent by the day.

What if the real threat of AI isn’t that it takes our jobs, but that it reveals what our jobs have already become?

This isn’t some abstract thought experiment. It’s real. It’s here. And it’s uncomfortable.

So much of what we’ve called a "career" was already broken. You could feel it. The daily standups that led nowhere. The performance reviews based on politics. The creeping suspicion that the title you worked for meant nothing outside your company’s internal directory. We joked about it. We tolerated it. We told ourselves this is just how the game works. And then AI entered the room and asked, quietly and without apology: why does this job exist at all?

Let’s start with the obvious. The AI jobs crisis is real. But the media has it backwards. The story isn’t just that AI is replacing human workers. It’s that it’s replacing work that never needed to exist in the first place.

Think of the middle layers of bureaucracy, the endless roles created to fill gaps in communication, coordination, and corporate theater. David Graeber called them "bullshit jobs". And what made them truly tragic is that the people doing them often knew. They weren’t lazy. They weren’t stupid. They were stuck in a system that rewarded appearing busy over being useful. A system where showing up was half the battle, and knowing what you were fighting for never quite mattered.

Now, AI is peeling back the curtain. It’s not destroying meaningful work. It’s automating the meaningless. And that’s what’s shaking us.

Because whether we admit it or not, many of us built our identities around these jobs. They gave our days structure. They gave us something to tell our parents, our partners, our children. They gave us a place to go. And even if the work felt hollow, at least it was something. Now the scaffolding is crumbling. And we’re left asking questions we’ve been avoiding for years.

What am I actually good at?
What kind of work would I do if I wasn’t just trying to survive?
What happens if I stop pretending that I love my job?

The real crisis is not technological. It’s emotional. It’s existential. It’s human.

Our society has long measured people by their productivity. But when machines become more productive than any of us, what does that say about our worth? Governments aren’t ready to answer that. Corporations are too invested in the old game. So workers are left to figure it out on their own. Some rush to learn new skills, chasing the next thing. Others double down on personal branding, as if a better profile picture will make them less replaceable. But deep down, we sense the problem isn’t a skill gap. It’s a meaning gap.

Here’s the thing: AI didn’t cause this. It just made it impossible to ignore. We’ve known for years that many jobs were hollow. We’ve known that the structure of modern work was built more on appearances than outcomes. We laughed at it. Now the joke’s over.

We are at a crossroads. One path keeps the illusion alive. We rename roles, layer on new titles, and pretend we’re adapting. The other path asks harder questions. What is work for? Who does it serve? And how should it feel to do it?

Because if AI is taking away the jobs that never mattered, maybe it’s also giving us a rare chance to build ones that do.

The future won’t wait. But we don’t have to rush blindly into it either. We can pause, look around, and decide what we want this next chapter to be about. Not just survival. Not just reinvention. But something closer to truth. Thank you for reading!

See you next week with a product launch,
Kartik

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Who am I?
I’m Kartik, founder of Polynomial Studio, a holding company and product studio building AI-driven businesses for the future of work. The way we work and live is being rewritten. AI, remote work, and shifting economic forces are reshaping careers, businesses, and entire industries. The big question is where it’s all heading.

For the past eight years, I’ve been at the forefront of these shifts, working across real estate, technology, startups, and corporate strategy. I’ve helped businesses navigate change and stay ahead of what’s next, always focused on understanding the forces shaping our future and how we can use them to build something better. Click here to know more about me.

Why Bold Efforts?
I started Bold Efforts because I believe work should fit into life, not the other way around. Too many people are stuck in outdated systems that don’t serve them. This newsletter is about challenging the status quo and making the effort to design work around life. It brings together bold ideas and actionable insights to help you build a healthier, more balanced relationship with work, leading to greater purpose and fulfillment. If you’re looking for fresh perspectives on how to work and live better, you’re in the right place.

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