AI in the Workplace: A Structural Driver of Regional Competitiveness
May 26, 2026
By Edgar Largaespada, Senior Director of Workforce Strategies
Allegheny Conference on Community Development
When I walked into our May Regional Growth Series event, I expected a conversation about technology. What I got was a conversation about urgency.
Our panel — Alistair Erskine of Highmark Health, Mike Keslar of BNY, Alison Magyari of Eaton, and Darrell Smalley of EY, moderated by Meredith Meyer Grelli of Carnegie Mellon University — didn’t spend much time debating whether AI matters. That question has been settled. What they pressed on instead was whether regions like ours are moving fast enough to matter in the AI economy taking shape right now.
From my vantage point in workforce strategy, that question hits close to home.
AI Has Left the Lab
A consistent message across the panel was that AI is no longer a pilot program or an innovation initiative. It is operational. The companies generating the greatest impact, panelists agreed, are not those layering AI onto existing processes — they are the ones redesigning those processes entirely, end to end, around what AI makes possible. That distinction matters enormously for how we think about workforce readiness. We are not training people to use a new tool. We are preparing them to work inside fundamentally different operating models.
Work Is Being Redefined Faster Than We Are Rebuilding It
Perhaps the sharpest insight from the conversation was this: AI is changing the nature of work before it is changing organizational structures. Routine tasks — documentation, data wrangling, administrative reporting, and standardized analysis — are being automated across sectors. That is not the future. That is happening now.
What replaces that work? The panelists were clear. Employers are increasingly hungry for judgment, adaptability, critical thinking, communication, and the ability to manage and collaborate across human-AI teams. Several noted that younger workers often bring strong technical fluency but sometimes enter the workforce with underdeveloped interpersonal and organizational skills. The workforce of the future is not purely technical — it is deeply human, augmented by AI.
For those of us focused on workforce strategy, this reframes the challenge. It is not enough to ensure workers can access AI tools. We need to build systems that develop the human capabilities that AI cannot replicate.
Pittsburgh’s Competitive Position — And Its Risk
Our region’s assets are real. CMU was cited repeatedly as a defining national advantage. As one of the panelists noted explicitly, Pittsburgh has become strategically important to their company because of AI talent, and that most graduates hired into AI roles are choosing to stay here. That is a signal worth taking seriously.
But assets do not automatically become outcomes. The panel’s message was pointed: the competitive frontier is no longer about having AI capability — it is about operationalizing it. Regions that can convert research excellence, industry anchors, and technical talent into measurable productivity gains and workforce adaptation will define the next economic cycle. Regions that cannot will watch that capital move elsewhere. Pittsburgh is competing not just globally but regionally in head-to-head matchups where speed and execution tip the scale.
What This Means for Our Work
From a workforce strategy perspective, I left the conversation with three clear priorities sharpened.
First, we need to shift our focus from AI training to AI-enabled operating models. The question for workforce systems is not how to teach people to use ChatGPT or Claude — it is how to prepare workers to thrive inside organizations that are being rebuilt around AI.
Second, domain expertise paired with AI fluency is the new competitive combination. The strongest outcomes come when technical AI capability meets deep industry knowledge and human-centered skills. That pairing — not technical fluency alone — is what employers are telling us they need.
Third, the region must manage growth and disruption simultaneously. AI will drive productivity gains and workforce displacement at the same time. Lower-skill and routine roles face real pressure. A serious workforce strategy cannot celebrate the upside without addressing the disruption honestly and proactively.
Pittsburgh enters this moment with stronger assets than most regions recognize — including, apparently, ourselves. Our task now is not to build the foundation. It is to build the speed.
The Allegheny Conference remains committed to working across employers, educators, and civic institutions to ensure Southwestern Pennsylvania executes on this moment with the urgency it demands.