« You won’t lose your job to AI, you’ll lose your job to someone using AI. »

This is another recurring idea in the public discourse. I don’t like it. I think it instills fear by stressing the idea of scarcity (jobs will be lost) and asking people to compete for the now scarce resource (learn AI or suffer).

I prefer a more benevolent stance, even though I can’t yet capture it in a poster-worthy quote. But if you allow me to elaborate…

You will not be replaced by an AI because you’re not your job. However, it is likely that something you like to do may soon be done more efficiently by an AI. It may reduce how much others need you to do that thing for them, which in turn may make you feel shitty. You may even feel it threatens your livelihood

But you’re not alone. When this happens to you it will also happen to hundreds of millions of people. These people — I may very well be one of them — will work together and find ways to bring back meaning to their lives. This will likely happen on such a large scale that society will have to find ways to ensure people’s livelihood will not be too negatively impacted.

There will be bumps in the road, and learning this new technology could make it easier for you to go through these bumps. I encourage you to do it. But ultimately this change will force us to act collectively in a way we haven’t been forced to act in a long time. I’m optimistic about that.

The New Systems of Survival

The Post-Individual

Agency Is Eating the World