AI is automating SQL, dashboards, and ad-hoc analysis. The future of data analytics isn't fewer analysts — it's analysts who lead with judgment, not queries.
by Emma Stowell, Angus Morshead and Ogo Odili
The Data Analyst role has been declared dead more times than we can count. AI will write queries, build dashboards, and generate insights. So why bother hiring analysts at all?
Because that argument confuses the task with the job.
What’s actually being automated is the work that consumed analysts’ time but never delivered business value: wrangling data, rebuilding dashboards for every new stakeholder, writing ad hoc SQL for one-off requests. The analyst who only does those things is being automated. The analyst who frames business problems and drives decisions is becoming more and more valuable.
