Cisco ELT is essentially forcing you to document your workflows, your decision-making processes and your institutional knowledge into their internal AI systems.
But Why?
They will eventually replicate your work. Every query, every correction, every refined prompt is training data that makes the AI more capable of doing your job. The strategic goal is what economists call "capital labor substitution" which is a gradual replacement of expensive human labor with cheaper AI capabilities while keeping output the same. By mandating internal AI use, Cisco ELT extracts maximum value from you now while capturing your expertise and figuring out which roles can be automated or eliminated. forcing you is necessary because voluntary adoption has been too slow. Cisco needs comprehensive data on how your work actually gets done and you need to train the AI systems.
When Cisco mandates internal AI use, they're forcing you to externalize your expertise and decision-making processes into their corporate-controlled system.
This creates a systematic deskilling effect that also causes you to gradually lose the deep domain knowledge you have. (your brain literally atrophies). You are becoming dependent on AI prompts rather than developing independent problem-solving abilities.
It doesn't matter to them because your tacit knowledge and institutional wisdom is getting captured by the AI system. The end result is a commoditized workforce where new hires need minimal training (the AI contains all the institutional knowledge) and minimal pay (race to the bottom). You can't take critical expertise with you.
Finally, the remaining workers (their friends and family) can easily manage the "you" trained AI
When you get the pink slip, you lose access to the corporate AI systems and your collective knowledge remains permanently owned by the company.