When Roles Move Faster Than Roadmaps
A Note on AI, Prompting, and What Endures
I was casually perusing LinkedIn—congratulating friends on new roles and skimming thoughtful posts between deep work blocks—when a headline stopped me in my scroll:
The hottest AI job of 2023 is already obsolete.
It was a post by journalist Isabelle Bousquette, reflecting on the short-lived rise of the “prompt engineer.” Once deemed critical, now being reclassified into broader functions.
I don’t usually pause for trendy discourse. But this one? It struck something important.
Prompting Isn’t Dead—But Surface Level Prompts Might Be
The role of a prompt engineer may have been overhyped, but prompting as a skill is still deeply relevant. The difference lies in the depth of the user’s critical thinking.
Prompting isn’t just about what you type. It’s about how you think.
AI can help you scale systems of thought if you can translate complex ideas into actionable dialogue. The real value isn’t in generating clever commands—it’s in structuring clear intent.
And that, frankly, is far from obsolete.
Interface Fluency Is the New Digital Literacy
In my own work, ChatGPT isn’t a shortcut. It’s a co-architect.
I don’t use AI to save time—I use it to refine clarity: externalize strategy, prototype rhythms, workflows, and narratives. All artifacts that align with my long-term vision. I use GenAI to mirror back what I’m building so I can move through business—and life—with more discernment and less friction.
This is what I call interface fluency: the ability to collaborate with digital systems in ways that are strategic, structured, and human-led.
It’s not just knowing how to prompt.
It’s knowing how to think in a way that makes your prompts more powerful.
The Skill That Endures: Translating Thought into Systems
Roles will shift and lob titles will evolve, but the people who thrive will be those who can:
Clarify thinking
Design scalable systems
Collaborate fluently with digital tools
Adapt structure to season and vision
Whether you call it prompting, critical thinking, strategy, or systems design—it’s not going anywhere. What matters is not the label, but the underlying capability.
This isn’t about keeping up.
It’s about evolving with intention.
Final Thoughts
If you’re feeling unsure about how to “keep up” with the speed of AI, take a breath. What you need is not more speed, but more structure. More reflection. More rhythm.
The tools will keep evolving. But your thinking—refined, grounded, well-structured—that’s the enduring asset.
