It starts small.
Maybe someone rolls their eyes the second ChatGPT is mentioned. Or they sit back in silence, arms folded, while others talk about automation, AI prompts, or how they saved three hours by asking a chatbot to clean up an email thread.
You don’t need a psychology degree to notice it. A person’s body language, tone, or subtle defensiveness in a meeting can often say more than their actual words.
Because when ChatGPT enters the room—even just hypothetically—it’s not just a tool being introduced. For a lot of people, it’s a threat. A mirror. A reckoning.
And ironically, the way someone responds to that moment says a lot about something they’ll never put on their resume: how secure they feel in their job.
When AI Feels Like a Performance Review
Let’s be honest. ChatGPT didn’t arrive quietly when it was first released on November 30, 2022. It walked in like a storm—disrupting content teams, rattling junior analysts, making developers raise eyebrows, and putting assistants on edge.
Suddenly, tasks that used to take hours—summarizing notes, drafting first-draft emails, outlining presentations—can be done in minutes.
And while some professionals see that and think, Amazing, I can spend more time on strategy, others silently wonder, Wait… is this going to replace me?
In meeting rooms across industries, that tension is now playing out in real time.
Three Types of Reactions—and What They Reveal
You can usually tell where someone stands by watching how they respond when ChatGPT or AI tools come up in a team setting. These reactions, subtle or not, often fall into three broad categories:
1. The Downplayers
These folks quickly minimize AI’s usefulness. They say things like:
- “I tried it once, it was completely wrong.”
- “Yeah, but it can’t do real work.”
- “Let’s not waste time with gimmicks.”
The subtext? “I don’t want to look at this too closely.”
Often, this reaction comes from a place of anxiety. If someone’s role involves repeatable, text-based tasks—and they haven’t yet figured out how to evolve their contributions—then ChatGPT can feel existential.
Dismissal becomes a form of self-preservation.
They’re not necessarily wrong to be cautious. But refusing to explore a tool that clearly isn’t going away doesn’t make the threat disappear. It just pushes them further behind the curve.
2. The Performers
This group name-drops ChatGPT in meetings to sound innovative… without using it meaningfully.
- “Oh yeah, I had ChatGPT help with that…”
- “I think I read that on OpenAI’s blog…”
It’s AI as social capital.
These are usually people who are aware that their role might be threatened, but they’re trying to mask that by appearing “in the know.” They’ll mention AI in passing, but they rarely show actual output or ideas shaped by it.
And this tells you something critical: they know they need to be seen as evolving… they just haven’t figured out how.
Which, again, speaks to shaky ground. If someone felt secure in their creative or strategic value, they wouldn’t need to name-drop tech tools to prove it.
3. The Integrators
This is the smallest group—but it’s growing.
These are the ones who not only use ChatGPT regularly, but show up to meetings with new workflows, fresh ideas, or better versions of routine tasks. They don’t fear the tool; they collaborate with it.
- “I used ChatGPT to clean up the jargon before sending this to clients.”
- “Here’s a brainstorm I started with GPT—let me know what we can build on.”
- “It saved me about two hours on formatting this. I used the time to look deeper into competitor data.”
These folks usually feel secure in their role—not because they’re untouchable, but because they’re adapting.
They’re the ones asking how the work is evolving, not whether it should.
Their reaction isn’t performative or defensive. It’s proactive. Which, in many cases, makes them more essential—not less.
Why Reactions Matter More Than Resumes
What’s wild about this moment in tech is that job security isn’t necessarily about how senior someone is, or how many degrees they hold.
It’s about adaptability. Curiosity. The ability to evolve.
And ChatGPT has become an unintentional litmus test for that.
When someone visibly resists AI, it often signals a fixed mindset—or worse, fear of being found out. Not because they’re not smart, but because they’ve tied their value to processes, not problem-solving.
People who’ve anchored their identity to being the “person who formats documents” or “writes the reports” feel disoriented when that task can now be done faster—by a bot.
Whereas those who’ve always asked “why are we doing it this way?” tend to welcome these changes. They don’t feel replaced—they feel upgraded.
And others notice that. Quietly. Consistently.
The Power of Being Curious, Not Defensive
It’s worth saying—none of this is meant to shame anyone.
Fear is human. Especially when our roles, identities, and incomes are on the line.
But here’s the truth: ChatGPT isn’t going away. It’s getting better. And if it’s not ChatGPT, it’ll be Claude, or Gemini, or something else with a sleek name and terrifying potential.
The smartest, most secure people in the room aren’t the ones pretending it’s irrelevant. They’re the ones asking:
- “What can this free me up to do?”
- “Which parts of my role can I enhance using this?”
- “Where is the human still needed—and how can I get better at that part?”
That mindset doesn’t just signal job security. It creates it.
Because while AI might replace tasks, it doesn’t replace the people who stay adaptive, emotionally intelligent, and creative about what comes next.
A Personal Note
I’ve sat in those meetings. I’ve been the one silently panicking, wondering if I was obsolete. And I’ve also been the one staying late to figure out how I could use the very tool I was scared of—to make my work more impactful.
Over time, I noticed something.
The more curious I became, the more doors opened. Not just with my own productivity, but with how I was seen.
Curiosity signaled that I wasn’t stuck. That I didn’t need to be handheld. That I could evolve on my own—and help others do the same.
That’s what real job security looks like now.
What Should You Watch For?
Next time AI comes up in your next Zoom call or team huddle, don’t just listen to the words.
Watch the body language. Listen for tone. Notice who leans in… and who folds their arms.
You’ll learn more about someone’s actual job security than any LinkedIn headline could ever tell you.
And if you catch yourself reacting with fear or resistance?
That’s not a flaw. That’s a signal.
A signal to lean in, not lean away.
Because the future isn’t just coming—it’s already typing.