One job path in the AI era guarantees failure, according to Alphabet board member.

• As CFO, CIO, and global co-head of securities at Goldman Sachs, Marty Chavez played a key role in overseeing one of the market's first major AI implementation strategies, algorithmic trading.
• Chavez, with a Stanford Ph.D. in computer science, has observed decades of advancements in AI and believes we're "well into the second half of the chessboard" regarding the exponential growth of artificial intelligence.
• At the CNBC Work Summit last week, Chavez, now a private investor, advised workers and businesses on how to adapt in the generative AI era.

Marty Chavez, a former executive at Goldman Sachs, has been utilizing AI for an extended period, beyond just algorithmic trading, where the technology first gained significant market recognition (he holds a PhD in computer science from Stanford, with a focus on AI in medicine).

At the CNBC Work Summit last week, Chavez, a partner and vice chairman at Sixth Street and an Alphabet board member, acknowledged that the hype surrounding AI breakthroughs is legitimate, and he can go deep into the AI rabbit hole.

Chavez stated that they were halfway through the chessboard, using the analogy of placing grains on a square and doubling the amount with each subsequent square. He added that the computers were becoming increasingly faster and capable of processing more data, with everything appearing twice as impressive as it did three months prior. As a result, Chavez believed that now was the ideal time to pursue a career in computer science.

The advancement of science is set to revolutionize industries and job roles. Although there will be ongoing discussions about whether AI will replace more jobs than it creates, Harvard professor Arthur Brooks stated at the CNBC Work Summit that AI will not eliminate jobs but rather disassemble and reassemble them in new forms. In this era of automation, white-collar work is at the highest risk of being replaced, and it is unlikely that it will be reimagined in ways that are currently being explored in early office experiments.

PwC is launching its personalized ChatPwC for 75,000 workers in North America this month. "The hype surrounding AI is greater than anything I have witnessed in the past 30 years, and it's well-deserved," said PwC chief products & technology officer Joe Atkinson in a recent interview with CNBC. Last year, PwC established its internal "AI factory," and within six weeks, the company had over 3,000 use cases for internal purposes and clients. "The majority of them have merit," Atkinson stated, adding that many also originated from individual contributors rather than leaders.

At the recent CNBC CFO Council Summit in Washington D.C., CFO Eric Kutcher stated that McKinsey's AI platform, Lilli, is being used by 45,000 employees and allows consultants to accomplish tasks in minutes that would have previously taken weeks.

Chavez advises that professional services firms should focus on automating tasks and rethinking their service delivery rather than worrying about defending against AI. He also offers similar career advice for workers, suggesting three strategies for navigating AI.

The three AI career options simply explained

The first career path, according to Chavez, is to give instructions to computers. "Consider becoming a computer scientist or engineer," he suggested. "It's fascinating."

Chavez suggested that collaborating with those who control computers and utilizing their tools can significantly increase productivity. He observed that many individuals on Wall Street adopted this approach, which allowed them to automate trading and focus on higher-level tasks, ultimately leading to successful careers.

The third option, which he advises against, is to hinder progress in the name of job security and prevent automation of workflows.

Chavez stated that it is doomed to fail and he has seen it fail. He advised against competing with computers and instead encouraged finding tools that can do better, which would open up new opportunities for him.

His advice for companies was similar.

Companies' boards and leadership should examine all their businesses and workflows, from start to finish, and if a workflow in their business meets specific criteria, such as being routine, repeated, taking in diverse data inputs like PDFs, Excels, unstructured web pages, and voice, and producing customized outputs that are somewhat creative but not wildly so, they should consider using AI tools to enhance their workforce.

To join the CNBC Workforce Executive Council, apply at cnbccouncils.com/wec.

Chavez is a partner and vice chairman at the private capital firm Sixth Street.