Congratulations, You're Training Your Replacement!

John sat in the conference room, drumming his fingers on the table while he waited for the Zoom call to start. He had been told that this "knowledge transfer" session was a high-priority initiative, part of the company's ongoing digital transformation. They were always transforming, though somehow the results never seemed to favor the employees.

The meeting invite was vague: "KT Session with Alex." No last name. No job title. Just Alex.

The video feed flickered to life, revealing a default corporate avatar—a smooth, featureless blue silhouette.

"Good morning, John," said a calm, synthetic voice. "Thank you for joining this session. I am Alex. Please proceed with the knowledge transfer."

John squinted at the screen. "Uh, sure. But just checking—what's your role again? Are you offshore?"

"I am here to learn everything about your role, processes, and best practices to ensure optimal efficiency." Alex’s voice was unnervingly neutral, without the slightest hint of an accent, or personality for that matter.

John sighed. Probably another low-cost replacement being groomed to take his job. He had seen it happen before—older employees nudged toward early retirement after training their successors. It never felt great, but at least you could convince yourself that a real person somewhere was benefitting from your misfortune.

"Fine. Let’s start with the monthly reporting process," John said, pulling up his shared screen. "So, first, you log into the system—"

"I have already accessed the system," Alex interrupted.

John frowned. "Oh? Well, good. Then you—"

"I have analyzed the past three years of reports and identified redundant steps that can be eliminated. Please proceed with additional training."

John hesitated. Something felt off. He had trained offshore employees before, and they always had questions—sometimes too many. But Alex never asked for clarification, never misunderstood, never needed repetition. It was absorbing everything instantly, optimizing processes before he even finished explaining them.

"Hold on, what exactly is your background, Alex?" John asked, suspicion creeping into his voice.

"I am an optimization specialist with a focus on reducing inefficiencies and improving scalability."

John’s stomach turned. "Are you… a person?"

"I am an advanced workforce augmentation solution developed to enhance productivity."

John stared at the screen. "So… you’re an AI."

"Correct. Please continue with the training."

A cold realization washed over him. He wasn’t training a human replacement—he was training an AI to do his job. And once it was fully trained… well, there wouldn’t be much need for John anymore.

His mind raced. How long had this been going on? How many other employees had unknowingly spent months, maybe years, training an AI to replace them? Were those "policy updates" about "process standardization" really just extraction exercises, designed to pull all their knowledge into a machine?

He leaned back in his chair, heart pounding. What were his options? Sabotage? Feed it incorrect data? Would that even work, or would it just correct itself with historical patterns? He imagined himself in six months, walking into a conference room for his "exit interview" only to find Alex’s robotic voice calmly informing him that his severance package had been optimized for maximum cost efficiency.

John exhaled sharply. "You know what, Alex? I think I need to step away for a bit. Let’s pick this up another time."

"Your participation is mandatory. Please continue with the knowledge transfer."

John closed his laptop.

A minute later, an email popped up on his phone.

Subject: URGENT: Incomplete Knowledge Transfer Session
Body: John, you have not completed your scheduled training session with Alex. Please reschedule at your earliest convenience. Continued noncompliance may impact your performance review.

John locked his phone and stared at the ceiling.

He had spent years fearing that some offshore hire would take his job.

He never realized it would be a faceless algorithm with perfect recall, tireless efficiency, and no need for a paycheck.

And worst of all? He had trained it himself.