N. Raghuraman's column: A 'power user' can replace you if not AI

For the past four months, C. Ramesh's boss would often stand behind his half cabin. He would keep an eye on Ramesh's computer and stand on the sidelines for several minutes and discuss something with him. Everyone wondered 'why are the bosses wasting time chasing a non-contributing employee who has done nothing for the department?' Ramesh's supervisor was instructed not to count his contribution in the monthly productivity spreadsheet, as he is doing some work for the top management. After lunch break and office, other employees tried to find out, but Ramesh remained silent. Gradually, colleagues moved away and started talking badly about their poor performance. Ramesh was not bothered by this. If anyone thinks that Ramesh has managed his branding, then he is completely wrong. Because they have created this proximity to the skills of managing AI. Suddenly, last week, Ramesh received the October Employee of the Month award. No subordinate came to congratulate him, although everyone clapped when his name was announced. Do you know why? Because the boss praised him in the standing meeting and said, 'I will not need anyone in Ramesh's department after four months, because he and his ability to 'use' the AI 'power' can reduce the department to just two people. You must be wondering what Ramesh did. Although he didn't want to explain, he gave an example of how multiple applications can be added to a computer with one AI tool. For example, one can automatically import quarterly financial data from Google Sheets into Intuit's QuickBooks via ChatGPT. Then the result can be analyzed in comparison to the previous earnings report and give the final report in less than five minutes. Otherwise it would have taken the whole day. Whether you like it or not, corporate houses in the US are being warned that 'if a bot doesn't replace you, a human who makes better use of AI will, that too before March 2026'. Like many IT experts, IT professional Ramesh knows that AI can do anything you want. But it knows as much as you tell it. They are right. A lot of bot-generated material is generic and low-quality workslope — in the context of IT and business, workslope is AI-generated content that's polished in appearance — but lacks depth, accuracy, or meaning. This task does not advance and the recipient has to work hard to improve it. It is a combination of 'work' and 'slop', reflecting the low-quality output created by AI without human understanding, review and verification. That's why 'power users' (people who know how to give better prompts) practice day and night to improve the prompts, so that they can get better results. And Ramesh was also refining the prompts on the computer, which the entire office would be able to use after the management's approval. They would give the prompts that came to mind and the boss would stand back and add their own prompts. Since the AI got used to the thought process of both, it was responding very quickly to Ramesh and he completed the work at a fast pace. Instead of having too many tools, they timed the AI assistant and made it more effective. The trick is that if you have even the slightest knowledge of AI, spend most of your time prompting, editing, tinkering, enhancing, and then fixing. Remember, to make yourself a 'power user', you just need to educate the AI.