The Situation
I have worked in software industry (as a developer and an accidental DBA & sysadmin) for about three decades. My employer has recently⁰ started going all-in on GenAI with higher-ups all but explicitly stating “get with the program or get left behind”, and quite frankly I don't want to get with that program…¹
The Question
If I am given no choice, could I take the position that being forced to be a prompt engineer instead of a programmer-come-DBA represents a material change to my role and therefore something I can refuse without disciplinary action (up to and including dismissal)², and if I am dismissed for this reason could I have a case for unfair dismissal?² My position on it being a material change comes from the feeling that my role as-is would be effectively being passed to the agents, and I would basically become a manager/orchestrator for them. Management is something I've tried to avoid my entire career because I want to do, not manage.³
I am aware that even if I can't be laid off for refusing the change, there is the distinct possibility of my non-AI role simply being made redundant⁴ and me with it. That is something I will deal with if/when it looks likely to happen and is not what I'm asking about in this question.
Notes
[0] It is not actually the same company as six months ago, though my desk has not moved - we were recently bought by a significantly larger concern.
[1] I am aware that GenAI and agentic coding is an industry-wide change, and that my lack of desire to be part of that means I may have a grand future in the local hospitality industry, with the massive pay-cut that this will imply! So no need to point that out. Surviving that change, if it comes to that because I don't have a swift personality transplant and the company takes that hard a line, is a separate matter to this question.
[2] I know that people here are unlikely to be able to give direct legal advice on the unfair dismissal portion of the question, in part because this is a fast changing aspect of the workplace and we are all playing catch-up, but if you have links to information about similar situations which I can use to research the matter myself, that would be helpful.
[3] No offence meant to those in, or wanting to be in, management - but it really isn't for me.
[4] In the recent take-over my continuous-time-in-service was protected, so I'm pretty sure they'd try to avoid the redundancy option as it would not be cheap, hence my concern about discipline/dismissal.