If you’re feeling overwhelmed by the constant talk of AI, you’re not alone and more importantly, you’re not broken…you’re human. Change is uncomfortable, especially when you feel that it threatens the identity and career you’ve spent years building. The fear you feel? It’s 100% valid. However the only thing more dangerous than change is pretending it isn’t happening and ignoring the shifts in any industry, refusing to adapt, and waiting for the dust to settle in hopes that things will go “back to normal”; that’s what should really scare you. Because while you’re focused on AI in a negative way, others are learning, adapting, growing and the longer you wait, the harder it becomes to catch up.
This isn’t a post about learning AI tools or mastering a piece of futuristic tech. It’s about something deeper: the creeping fear that your role is losing value, and the even harder truth that many assistants have never been taught how to articulate their value in the first place. You’ve been part of an industry that has told you you’re “indispensable,” that you’re the “glue,” that you’re the one “holding everything together” and while those sentiments are flattering, they’re vague. They don’t hold weight in conversations about business performance, and they certainly don’t help you when someone asks, “What do you actually do?”.
The fear around AI isn’t about robots or automation, it’s the unacknowledged truth and the reality of not knowing how to measure your own impact. It’s about watching other departments make reference to dashboards, KPIs, and outcomes while you’re left with a gut feeling that you’re essential with no hard evidence to back it up. What that leads to is something even more damaging than fear: erosion of self-esteem. You start to question your place and you start to internalise the idea that because you can’t prove your worth, maybe you don’t have as much of it.
When that happens, it becomes tempting to lean into a narrative that the assistant world has, frankly, glorified for too long, one where “no one understands what I do,” “my boss doesn’t appreciate me,” and “people don’t see the value of my role” become the mantras we repeat to ourselves and each other. It creates a kind of martyrdom disguised as professionalism. But let’s be crystal clear, this narrative doesn’t serve you, it doesn’t command respect and it definitely doesn’t build influence. Because no one in business walks around demanding their job be validated step-by-step. People don’t need their manager to understand every part of their day, they just need their impact to be easy to communicate and to actually communicate it. That’s how professional respect is built.
When assistants describe their value based on tasks, like “I manage his/her diary,” or “I coordinate travel logistics” it’s no wonder AI feels threatening. Those are the exact kinds of things automation can and will do, but that was never your real value, was it? The magic was never in the meeting invites. It was in what those meetings led to. It was in the hours you saved your executive. The focus you protected. The opportunities they were able to pursue because you cleared the noise. The better decisions they made because you prepped them with clarity, at the right time, with the right insight. That’s your impact. And the amazing news? Impact can be measured, if you choose to look for it.
The belief that assistant work is unquantifiable has held the profession back for years. The idea that your role is based on “intuition,” “magic,” or “just knowing things” sounds flattering, but it’s not helpful. It’s the reason people don’t take us seriously and it’s the reason so many assistants panic when faced with tools that promise to replicate the very tasks they’ve built their identity on. If your value can’t be defined, it can’t be defended. That’s why this isn’t about fighting against AI, it’s about finally stepping into your own awareness and owning your power.
The only reason AI feels like a threat is because you haven’t been encouraged to own the business outcomes you drive. But once you do, once you understand why you’re really employed, beyond the admin and the logistics, AI stops being the enemy. It becomes the assistant to the assistant; a tool that helps you scale your value, not replace it.
If you’re still scared of AI, ask yourself this: am I actually afraid of the technology? Or am I afraid that I don’t know my own worth? Because once you do, everything shifts. You stop panicking about what AI can do, and you start leading on how it’s used. You identify what should be automated, where your energy is best spent, and how you can focus more on the parts of your role that drive real business impact, the stuff AI can’t replicate: judgment, influence, relationships, strategy, and foresight.
The truth is, this moment is a gift. It’s a chance to stop playing small and to let go of old narratives that kept you invisible. It gives you the power to stop waiting for someone else to see your value and start showing it…clearly, confidently, and commercially. and that’s how you become irreplaceable.
So no, you don’t need to be afraid of AI. What you need is to understand your worth so completely that nothing, no new tool, no tech trend, no org restructure, can shake it. Because fear thrives in vagueness, but confidence? Confidence not only lives but excels in clarity.