Slowly but surely, artificial intelligence (AI) is creeping into the workplace, creating fear that the technology will progress to the point where it will replace the human workforce entirely. We've heard it a million times – "The robots are coming to take our jobs." In the past, perhaps just a decade ago, the words may have seemed empty – the threat too far off to worry about. After all, when it comes work – running businesses, serving customers, programming computers, driving buses and flying planes – humans are indispensable, aren't they? We can't be so sure anymore.

According to some dire and sensational headlines, many people will likely soon find themselves in the unemployment line, while a relative of a Roomba moves in to their office, taking over their old job. Few topics have created so much fear, uncertainty and doubt in the workplace as recent developments in robotics and artificial intelligence. As people welcome Siri, Alexa and Google Assistant into their homes and personal lives, they are beginning to wonder if the same technology that answers their questions and assists them in their day-to-day lives could soon replace them in the office and on the factory floor, doing the same work they did – but better, faster, cheaper, 24/7/365. Earlier this year, the Center for Leadership Insight at Russell Reynolds Associates set out to examine how management, finance and administrative workers spend their time at work. Looking at data on 103 different jobs, we classified a total of 1,880 tasks (the specific activities these workers undertake) based on the likelihood that each task would be replaced or disrupted by AI.

If you think job disruption by AI is limited to the assembly lines, think again: AI is doing a better job than humans at some aspects of sales and marketing, too. AI can analyse sales calls far faster than any sales manager could – in fact, it would take nine years of non-stop sales call analysis for a human being to compete, and that's if they didn't take vacation or sleep. And AI is already being used to develop marketers' content strategies and email marketing playbooks – it's only a matter of time before it plays a bigger role in the process. The truth probably lies halfway between these camps – in many cases, AI will serve to make our jobs easier and will make us more effective and data-driven. But the fact remains that some jobs will be replaced by machines – it's the essence of any industrial or technological revolution.