This is exactly what I would expect to see, and you could swap in "automation" or "outsourcing" for "AI" and draw the same conclusion. Expertise is expensive because it takes time. Ask your average library manager about their predecessors' decisions regarding inhouse cataloguing and metadata work.
Employers are already realizing that a relative novice armed with AI, although perhaps competent enough to get work done, is far less valuable than an experienced practitioner who has a sturdy mental model of a domain.