How AI Will Change Procurement and Knowledge Work

How AI Will Change Procurement and Knowledge Work

From The Tech Trek by Elevano

March 26, 2026 · 31 min · Episode 651

About this episode

Spencer Penn discusses the impact of AI on procurement and knowledge work, emphasizing the evolution of roles and the strategic importance of procurement.

Spencer Penn, Co founder and CEO of LightSource, joins The Tech Trek for a sharp conversation on AI native procurement, agentic workflows, and what actually happens to knowledge work as automation gets better. This episode is worth your time because it moves past lazy takes about AI replacing jobs and gets into something more useful, how work changes, where human value holds, and why procurement may be more strategic than most companies treat it. This conversation starts with procurement, but it quickly expands into a bigger discussion about role design, change management, and the pace of AI adoption inside real companies. Spencer breaks down why some jobs get redesigned while others disappear, how AI can elevate overlooked functions, and what people should do right now if their company is behind. In this episode Why procurement is a strong fit for AI, especially where teams are buried in tedious process work The difference between job automation and job elimination Spencer’s idea of role plasticity, and why it matters more than most AI debates Why procurement teams may become more valuable, not less, as AI improves Practical ways professionals can start using AI before their…

People in this episode

Guest: Spencer Penn

Topics covered

  • AI in procurement
  • knowledge work
  • automation
  • role design
  • change management
  • AI adoption

Keywords

  • AI
  • procurement
  • automation
  • knowledge work
  • role plasticity
  • job redesign
  • change management

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: LightSource

More episodes of The Tech Trek

Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Tech Trek podcast page.