The AI Copilot Market Map

By Kahini Shah and James Joaquin, Obvious.com

A copilot, according to Merriam-Webster, is a “qualified pilot who assists or relieves the pilot but is not in command.” 

This word is a great metaphor for the new wave of AI software applications designed to give humans superpowers in the workplace. At Obvious, we see AI as ushering in a major transformation to how we find and do our best work. We believe it has the potential to close gaps and give individuals and small businesses skills and capabilities that were previously only accessible to large companies.

Will AI also eliminate some jobs currently performed by humans? Absolutely. In every technological revolution this has happened—from the Gutenberg press, to the steam engine, to the Internet. Given that only 40% of the jobs we do today existed in 1940, we believe that we’ll have similar new types of job creation over the next 80 years as more AI copilots fly in. In the first generation of AI copilots, we are already seeing productivity gains in the workplace.