I Love AI and It Scares the S*** Out of Me

I use (and LOVE using) AI a lot – my favorite is Claude and it often serves as my go-to coach when I face a challenge for which I don’t know where to begin.  I believe 100% that AI will create profound changes in our economy – that what we’re seeing now is the tip of what is fast becoming an iceberg.  Our economy may be the Titanic about to hit it. 

For those who still believe that “AI will never replace humans,” I say this, and there’s no way to be polite or gentle:  I think that’s 100% wrong.  It already is and that process is accelerating.  Look at chat bots, first-draft copywriters, junior coders, paralegals doing first-pass document review – that work is already thinner than it was two years ago, and it isn’t coming back. 

If my sons were just graduating from high school now, I’d urge them to get a business degree AND learn a trade – HVAC, plumbing, home remodeling – something that requires HANDS, fixing critical things that AI and robots won’t be able to handle for a very long time – then build a business around that.  Why not just have a career in AI?  Maybe.  Some who do are already becoming rich, others are building the tools that replace them.

Bill Gates may not be today’s Nostradamus, but his Aug 26 article (headline above) is worth fifteen minutes of your time – it’s a clear-eyed look at where this is heading from someone who’s been right about tech before.  I’m not optimistic that U.S. or global leaders will heed his warnings.  For those of us who are Stubbornly Young, I don’t think we can completely understand or predict all this.  We should keep watching the horizon and be able to engage this subject with the people we love whose lives will be more profoundly impacted by AI than ours.