Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has made headlines with a bold and sobering message: artificial intelligence is going to significantly impact white-collar jobs(Powerful CEOs). Speaking in a recent internal meeting, Jassy acknowledged that roles traditionally considered ‘safe’ from automation—such as marketing, legal, finance, and even coding—are now on the frontlines of disruption.
This is not just a Silicon Valley issue. For a country like Sri Lanka, where the service sector dominates GDP and a growing number of young people enter white-collar professions, this is a wake-up call. As AI tools become more accessible and powerful, businesses and professionals alike must rethink their approach to skills, strategy, and value creation.
AI’s Growing Reach into White-Collar Territory
Andy Jassy didn’t mince words: “We’re only at the beginning of this [AI] transformation,” he told Amazon employees. He pointed out that Generative AI models are capable of doing tasks once exclusively done by humans—like generating code, writing marketing copy, answering customer queries, and even analyzing financial models.
What’s most important about his message is this: it wasn’t focused on blue-collar jobs or low-skill automation. It was about mid-to-high skill professions—exactly the kind of careers many Sri Lankans in urban areas pursue. This means the legal assistants, financial analysts, marketers, software engineers, and HR executives of Colombo and beyond are not exempt.
How Sri Lankan Businesses Should Respond
1. Invest in AI Training for Existing Staff
Many Sri Lankan businesses—especially in sectors like finance, BPO, legal, and tech—still lag behind global AI adoption trends. Instead of viewing AI as a threat, employers must treat it as an upskilling opportunity. Providing AI literacy workshops, prompt engineering training, and real-world tool exposure (e.g., ChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, etc.) will help employees integrate AI into their daily work.
2. Focus on Value Creation Over Routine
AI excels at repetitive and data-driven tasks. What it still lacks is judgment, ethics, relationship-building, and long-term strategy. Sri Lankan companies should redefine job descriptions to focus on human strengths—such as client interaction, emotional intelligence, storytelling, and leadership—while delegating repetitive work to AI systems.
3. SMEs Must Prepare for AI Integration
Jassy’s message may seem targeted at big tech, but the implications ripple down to small businesses. Sri Lankan startups and SMEs must begin experimenting with AI, whether it’s using chatbots for customer service, tools like Canva AI for marketing, or QuickBooks AI for accounting. The competitive edge lies in early adoption.
For Professionals: Evolve or Get Left Behind
Sri Lanka’s youth are increasingly pursuing careers in law, IT, media, HR, and digital marketing. But with AI threatening to redefine these roles, the real winners will be those who adapt fast.
1. Learn to Collaborate with AI
As Jassy noted, AI isn’t about replacement—it’s about augmentation. Those who learn how to use AI as a copilot will become significantly more efficient than those who don’t. For example:
- Lawyers can use AI for first drafts of contracts.
- Marketers can ideate campaigns faster using AI-generated insights.
- Programmers can code more efficiently with tools like GitHub Copilot.
2. Build Multi-Disciplinary Skills
The job of the future is not siloed. An HR manager who understands data analytics, or a lawyer who can work with AI compliance tools, will be more valuable than those who stick to one niche.
3. Certify Your Skills
Online certifications in AI-related fields (such as Coursera’s Prompt Engineering, Google’s AI Essentials, etc.) add credibility. In a competitive job market like Sri Lanka’s, where CVs often look similar, certifications can provide a serious edge.
Policy and Education: A National Response Needed
It’s not just companies and individuals that must respond. The Sri Lankan government and educational institutions must urgently reform their curricula and digital infrastructure.
1. Update School & University Curricula
Most IT degrees in Sri Lanka still do not offer modules in machine learning, AI ethics, or prompt engineering. This needs to change. Just as English and IT literacy were once priorities, AI literacy must now be mainstreamed.
2. Promote AI in Public Sector and Governance
Public sector inefficiency is a key concern in Sri Lanka. AI could help streamline services—from legal document processing to citizen complaint management. The government must lead by example and integrate AI into public workflows to demonstrate confidence and competence in tech.
Ethics and Equity: The Other Side of the Coin – Powerful CEOs
Jassy also hinted at the ethical implications of AI. There’s no doubt that unchecked adoption can lead to job losses, data misuse, and bias. Sri Lanka must therefore:
- Set data protection laws that regulate AI tools.
- Encourage ethical use guidelines for both companies and public institutions.
- Protect vulnerable groups who may be disproportionately affected by automation (e.g., clerical staff in the public sector).
Conclusion: Build WITH AI, Not Against It
Andy Jassy’s warning isn’t fear-mongering—it’s foresight. AI is not the future—it’s the present. Whether you’re a startup founder in Galle, a legal intern in Colombo, or a marketer in Kandy, the message is clear: adapt, learn, and lead.
The Sri Lankan workforce is talented, creative, and resilient. But resilience must now be matched with readiness. The age of AI is not about replacing people—but about upgrading what it means to be one.
