𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗝𝗼𝗯𝘀

On a humid afternoon in the late 1970s, a young mother named Denise walked into her neighborhood bank branch in Cleveland, toddler on her hip, paycheck in hand. The line snaked around velvet ropes, anchored by a printed sign that read, “Please have your deposit slip ready,” while the soft clack of adding machines filled the room.

A few feet away, a shiny new machine sat against the wall, mostly ignored. It was something called an automated teller machine (or ATM) that promised cash without a human. The tellers behind the counter whispered about it at lunch. The mood was joking at first, then grew a little nervous.

Was this the end of their jobs? The uncertainty was overwhelming, but the dreaded prediction proved wrong for them and the experts alike.

When ATMs became widely adopted in the 1970s, many predicted the role of the bank teller would shrink dramatically. Economists and bank executives assumed that if a machine could handle deposits and withdrawals, banks would need far fewer humans at the counter.

Early forecasts were highly confident but, in hindsight, too linear. They extrapolated from a simple equation, “one machine replaces one teller,” and missed the broader system effects: cheaper costs in handling transactions made it more attractive to open additional branches, serve more customers, and offer more complex products. As the cost of running a branch went down, the number of branches went up, and with it, the total demand for people who could build relationships and sell those products.

Between 1970 and 2010, the number of U.S. bank tellers nearly doubled, increasing from just under 300,000 to about 600,000, even as roughly 100,000 ATMs appeared across the country by 1990.

Experts also underestimated how much customers still wanted advice, reassurance, and a sense of safety when it came to their money. ATMs were perfect for quick cash, but they could not empathize with someone worried about a mortgage, a small-business loan, or paying for college.

As the routine, low-value tasks moved to machines, the remaining work at the branch became more human, not less: listening, explaining tradeoffs, spotting needs the customer had not yet articulated, and building trust over time. In other words, the job evolved upward toward higher-value interactions that technology alone could not deliver.

Rethinking “Job-Killing” Technology

Today, we live in a world where that pattern has repeated across industries: technology takes over the routine, or soon will, and many people fear the loss of jobs as human roles are replaced by AI and automation.

The history of the ATM is a counterweight to the fear that “AI will take all the jobs.” Technology can change the mix of work rather than erase it. It reminds us that when we introduce new technology, the critical question is not “What will it replace?” but “What new value can people now create?”

The role of bank tellers migrated to be more advisory and to require judgment, empathy, and complex problem-solving. In the near future, AI may become to knowledge work what ATMs were to cash handling: ubiquitous, efficient, and almost invisible. We can imagine a world where basic customer queries, scheduling, and data entry are fully automated, while humans focus on trust-building, strategic decisions, and creative problem framing.

To use an analogy, the “science” of accounting is handling the numbers by applying GAAP regulations and treatments. The “art” of accounting is financial strategy, the management judgment, and the discovery of new opportunities while weighing the tradeoffs in cost-cutting versus fast growth.

The lesson from ATMs suggests that if we design thoughtfully, the spread of AI could expand opportunities for meaningful human work rather than shrink them.

For startups, the next decade will belong to the founders bold enough to redesign work around what humans and technology can do together.

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This format, called Go Wide: A Life Less Curated, serves as an antidote to algorithms and echo chambers by revealing how major historical events impacted the world and might shape what comes next.

Do you agree with this prediction? Are there other topics we should explore? Let us know at info@webuildscalegrow.com.

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"When Automation Created More Jobs" image by skarletmotion

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