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Nan Jia

Professor Of Management and Organization
Marshall School of Business, University of Southern California

How AI Shapes Non-AI Positions: Evidence from Professional Service Firms

¶Ù²¹³Ù±ð:ÌýFriday, April 25, 2025
Time: 10:30 am – 12:00 pm
Location: Bronfman building, Room 310

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have automated numerous tasks traditionally requiring human cognitive skills. However, we argue that AI's impact extends beyond the tasks it directly performs, influencing other tasks that are less AI-reliant but interdependent with AI-intensive functions, including those requiring interpersonal relationships. This study examines professional service firms (PSFs), which specialize in solving complex problems for clients. A common organizational design in PSFs distinguishes between back-end positions, which focus primarily on knowledge production, and front-end positions, which emphasize client interactions and relationship management. These two types of functions interact dynamically, requiring continuous back-and-forth collaboration: Back-end functions often rely heavily on analytical and cognitive skills, which overlap significantly with AI’s capabilities. In contrast, front-end functions depend more on social skills, such as interpersonal interactions and relationship building, making AI adoption less prevalent in these roles. We argue that the use of AI in back-end functions enhances the productivity of front-end workers, thereby increasing organizational demand for and higher salaries in front-end positions. Using U.S. job posting data from PSFs spanning 2010 to 2023, we find that an increase in vacancies for AI-related back-end positions—used as a proxy for AI adoption in those functions—is associated with a significant increase in demand for front-end jobs unrelated to AI. These findings suggest that, through task dependence and organizational design of positions, AI adoption boosts the demand for tasks of interpersonal tasks that do not directly employ AI but depend on information generated by AI.