The Impending Death of Expertise
(And Maybe How to Avoid It)
Over the next few years, every industry will face a shortage of real domain expertise due to the advancement of AI.
Companies like Google, OpenAI, and Microsoft are scooping up the best minds, but what will happen when that talent pool dries up?
As incumbents continue to automate processes and lift the ground floor up for less skilled workers, there will be only enough room for the top players to guide the development, and newcomers to pull the levers.
Deep domain expertise will become rarer, not because it is irrelevant, but because the paths to gain it will seem less necessary for most people.
…or so they think.
If you’re a company, a creator, or a builder, you need to pay attention to the shifting landscape.
The Comfort Curve
There’s no doubt that AI tools have lowered the skill floor. Anyone can create a polished product faster.
As Instagram and the iPhone made everyone a “photographer,” generative AI tools will let everyone write code, design logos, draft contracts, and create worlds with only having just a teensy bit of knowledge on a particular subject.
But here’s the caveat. Lowering the floor also raises the performance ceiling.
The Dunning-Kruger effect kicks in at full-effect.
People feel confident because they can produce, but they stop pushing themselves to understand the “why” beneath the tools deeply.
When I first opened Photoshop in high school, I wanted to create a mashup of a Volkswagen Corrado and a Volkswagen Golf. There were no magic tools. No AI outlines. Just the trusty pen tool and good old-fashioned patience to mask out the cars.
Now we have one-click background removals.
We’re totally spoiled… and I love it, but I do have concerns.
But as comfort continues to breed complacency, our biggest risk is to become “operators” rather than true craftsmen.
The T-Shaped Illusion
The last decade pushed us toward T-shaped talent. Broad across many disciplines, deep in one. At the beginning of my career, this wasn’t the norm.
It sounds good, though. Teams are nimble. Cross-pollination happens. But we’re seeing the hidden cost:
True craftsmanship will die without a concerted effort to adapt.
The few who commit to the discipline of mastery will become unicorns that command high value in an economy drowning in surface-level skill.
The Specialist Split
The specialists who remain will split into two groups:
- Indie Builders: Experts who productize their expertise using AI, like a designer building their own design tools.
- Big Company Insiders: Those who get hired by large companies for stability, high salaries, and resources that enable them to focus on their craft.
Everyone else will rebrand as “prompt engineers” or drift into other fields, further shrinking the mid-tier of specialists.
The Saturation Point
We are approaching an internet of infinite content. AI-generated everything.
Every platform will flood with “good enough.”
But “good enough” will feel like wallpaper.
The folks who know the “Why” behind every workflow decision will leverage technology to cut through the noise, not add to it.
They will stand out precisely because most people will not.
The Expertise Gap
By automating more workflows, companies will inadvertently break apart the ladders that once built real expertise.
People will just learn to operate tools, not to master the fundamentals that those tools abstract away.
There’s an old adage from Joey Korenman, the creator of School of Motion. I’m paraphrasing here, but “Youtube tutorials don’t make you a good designer; they only make you get better at using the software”.
Something significant can be gleaned from this. As technology has made life easier, it has also eliminated many of the difficulties associated with finding a solution that works.
Eventually, companies will realize they can’t find people who truly understand the systems beneath the automation. The hiring panic will begin, and the few true experts will see their value and wages skyrocket.
What Smart Players Should Do Now
For companies:
- Create apprenticeship paths to train new experts. Show people where they can go if they gain particular skill sets.
- Invest in human-curated knowledge bases rather than relying on Slack or Notion to replace real mentoring. Nurturing the growth of the L&D (Learning and Development) will be crucial in developing new talent.
- Recruit young talent early and pair them with your best craftspeople. Grab them in college, offer a paid internship, and provide a learning path.
For individuals:
- Triple down on nuance. Learn what AI tools can’t teach you easily by keeping a detailed log of your unique processes.
- Join small, invite-only communities where builders actually share their real workflows.
- Prototype and experiment in the real world to understand how systems break.
- Mentor others to reinforce your own skillset.
- Put your thoughts out into the world to build your reputation.
But, But, But…
“But won’t AI just learn everything eventually?”
Maybe. But, AI only learns what is captured in data. Datasets get stale, and social climates shift. AI needs human context to guide it through feedback loops that matter.
“But specialization is dead.”
If that’s true, why are big companies paying top brand designers and senior engineers insane salaries while laying off lower-tier staff? Specialization isn’t dead; it’s splitting into the “valuable” and the “replaceable.” Always follow the money to see what trends are emerging.
“But that’s my job you’re talking about. Have you no soul?”
I still do, believe it or not.
Sometimes the truth is hard to hear, but it is something that I’ve had to come to terms with after watching the progress for the past couple of years.
For me, the only thing that matters is that I continue to “create”, no matter the shifting landscape.
Every single person has something great to offer that AI cannot replace. Most of the time, we just need to find it inside ourselves.
In closing
The death of expertise isn’t inevitable.
It will be a side effect of over-automation and under-investment in people. In an era of infinite content, true expertise becomes the rarest commodity.
Don’t fight the current. Embrace the coming changes. Always push for growth and embrace your fellow human.
And to future-proof yourself, you can become a specialist or partner with one. Either way, you’ll make amazing things.
PS: Why This Matters to Creators
If you’re a filmmaker, designer, marketer, or developer, this is your wake-up call.
Yes, use AI. Yes, automate your workflows. But don’t confuse tool proficiency with mastery.
Mastery will be the only thing that sets you apart in a world where everyone has access to the same tools.
If you liked this article, I cover the same topic on my podcast “Driven to Create” and you can find it here: https://creators.spotify.com/pod/show/driven-to-create/episodes/EP-09---The-Impending-Death-of-Expertise-e3534a9
