New Zealand Statistical Association 2024 Conference

Lisa Chen

The University of Auckland

Is AI eating data scientists' lunch?

As artificial intelligence (AI) advances rapidly, a growing debate questions whether these innovations are diminishing the role and value of data scientists. Today’s AI and automation tools perform tasks traditionally handled by data scientists, such as data cleaning, model development, and advanced analytics, often with impressive speed and efficiency. This raises an important question: Is AI eating data scientists’ lunch?

In this short talk, I’ll share insights from my experiences as both a practitioner and educator in this rapidly evolving field. I'll explore how these changes are reshaping data science practice and influencing my teaching approach. Ultimately, rather than becoming obsolete, data scientists—with their unique combination of ‘human’ insight and ‘data’ expertise—are ideally positioned to lead in this AI-driven future.