Career Choice in the AI Age: What Next for Privacy and Data Professionals?
When I was in college, privacy existed but the privacy profession did not. Some cynics might say that the reverse is true now, but the reality is more complex: even amidst mounting pressures on individual privacy, there are arguably more privacy protections enshrined into law around the world than ever before.
One point, though, is beyond debate: the privacy profession is changing. The rise of AI and AI governance work, under the broad umbrella of privacy and compliance work, raises questions about law and policy, how to be effective internally, how to take basic data governance and map it to AI governance, and how to create sustainable governance structures and processes. But it also raises fundamental – and familiar – questions about how we map our careers and what choices we make.
“Some have greatness thrust upon them”1
Many of the first privacy professionals started by doing other things and in many cases being appointed by their organization to handle the new privacy issues that arose. I started in government affairs and lobbying and bounced into privacy via trust and safety. Many privacy lawyers were simply lawyers in legal departments working on contracts or compliance or intellectual property and were “volunteered” to handle privacy.
Over time a new generation of privacy pros arose, intentionally choosing to work on these interesting new issues. Some loved learning the new technologies. Some were attracted to the idea of upholding the core and important values of privacy. Others liked the multidisciplinary nature of the work. It was a basket of “cool” legal and policy issues on the leading edge of technology.
Eventually the profession got more specialized, with engineers, project managers, non-lawyers and the like finding important roles. And over time, the uphill nature of the work caught up with some privacy pros (but not all), giving rise to burnout from constantly feeling like the organization resists the compliance work or concept of risk that privacy pros perceive.
AI is a major technological leap, raises new issues of law and policy and governance, and arrived so fast that few data or AI professionals were in a position to intentionally choose the work they do now. This has implications for how people might think about their careers in data, privacy, and AI.
One might characterize privacy professionals in four categories since AI swept in.
Adopting – They love the job and they’re making it their own. They think the tech is cool, they’re optimistic about what AI will be able to do. The law, policy, and governance challenges are interesting. This work gives them purpose and meaning.
Adapting — Realistic and pragmatic, figuring it out and making it work. The adapters might be struggling because they didn’t really wish for AI; they wouldn’t have chosen it. They’re in a privacy role and now they must adapt to this new technology and this new set of issues and this new pace of change. They try to make the most of it but now career questions arise: Is this the work they want to do? Purpose and meaning are in question.
Enduring — Hanging on, fighting the good fight, until something else feels more rewarding. A sense of obligation or duty, such as a need to support a family, supplants purpose and meaning.
Resisting – Resistance takes two broad forms. The change is too much, there’s no interest in the technology, fear and anxiety predominate, and change is resisted. Some people withdraw. These are the “quiet quitters” who don’t know what to do, think they are in a comfort zone and don’t want to leave it. Alternatively, people get angry and rebel, resist, push back and try to stop it or bring about meaningful change.
Where Are You Going?
Maybe you see yourself in one of these categories. Maybe you fit into a category not mentioned here (tell us about it!). For three of the four, career choices loom: Is this what I want to work on, work that chose me that I did not choose? What’s next?
Here are some helpful lenses or frameworks to think about the career choices and mapping we face:
Run toward, not away. It’s important to feel like you’re running towards something desirable rather than running away. That means you need to do the work to figure out what you want. That often connects to a deeper meaning or purpose.
Enlarge, not diminish. Another useful lens for looking at big decisions (career or otherwise) is an idea put forth years ago by James Hollis, a Washington DC area psychologist. He suggests asking this question: “Does this choice diminish me, or enlarge me?”2 It’s a powerful question. If working on AI makes you feel bigger in the organization, or it feels like growth to you or it makes you feel more influential more on top of things then that’s clearly a good choice – for you. If it makes you feel smaller, like you’re being pushed down in the organization, like you can’t keep up, like you’re overwhelmed, then maybe this isn’t a good choice and a good place to stay in your career.
Practice, practice, practice. What is the practice in your profession, the thing you seek to perfect? Surgeons seek to get better at surgery. Pianists practice to constantly get better. Professional athletes, lawyers, teachers, coaches, all seek to get better at what they do. That refinement of the craft, through daily practice, provides meaning and focus. What is it in your role that is the daily practice, the craft you seek to refine, the talent you seek to develop? If that question is hard to answer, it might be time for a change.
When in doubt, choose growth. So often what feels like languishing or burnout might simply be an absence of growth. Feeling like we are growing creates meaning and focus. Horizontal growth, the learning of new information, broadening one’s horizons, can be entertaining but insufficient. Vertical development – growing soft skills, ability to lead people and across teams, expanding impact in the org or profession – is more meaningful for people. Are you growing now? What would feel like growth to you?
What changes if you have a clear destination or desired outcome to move toward? What does it feel like to simply move and act and see where change takes you – or leaves you?
We hope we don’t have to simply endure. If we do, we might hope we’d have the courage to resist. In the end, we will all have to be adapters, but what could it feel like to intentionally choose? What would it feel like to find direction and purpose, to feel new growth and adopt one’s work, role, and the technological change underway?
It’s important to be clear about what’s happening with you, to identify which category above you’re in and find a lens through which to see your choices. If you’re just making it up as you go along, you might still find yourself in a place you don’t want to be. It’s normal human behavior to want to stay in our comfort zones, but how can a place where you merely endure and do not grow be a comfort?
Privacy and data professionals are multi-faceted and multi-talented people. They may be guided by core values like privacy, excited by technology, eager to launch new products, or simply do good work. The lenses set out above are not the only ones: you can start with why, think about what you long for, explore the Ikegai matrix, or any number of other ways to think about what’s next. But make a choice, rather than let events simply happen to you. Our careers are often set up as default opt-out, but we can choose to opt-in to the work that fulfills us. AI presents us with that choice.
- Twelfth Night, Act II scene 5: “Be not afraid of greatness: some men are born great, some achieve greatness and some have greatness thrust upon them.” ↩︎
- James Hollis, What Matters Most: Living a More Considered Life, p.13. “Ask yourself of every dilemma, every choice, every relationship, every commitment, or every failure to commit, “Does this choice diminish me, or enlarge me?” Do not ask this question if you are afraid to find the answer.” ↩︎
