I don’t think AI is going to destroy the world. I think it’s going to do something quieter that may be harder on a lot of people. It’s going to destroy much of the meaning and value people find in their work.
Most of the time my own reaction to AI is relief, because it makes my life easier. But you can see the writing on the wall. Entry-level jobs are being replaced as we speak, and a lot more white-collar jobs are going to follow. The average person still doesn’t use AI in a way that makes them more productive. The people doing this for a living online certainly are, but most people don’t realize how far it has come, and it’s going to hit them at some point when the jobs start going.
The deeper problem isn’t the job
The real problem comes when we associate who we are with the job. We start to treat our value as a function of what we do for work, instead of understanding that I’m a person, and as a person I have meaning and I have value. That works fine until the function goes away, and then a man doesn’t just lose an income. He feels like he’s lost himself.
I think it’s something like a midlife crisis, or like what happens to people when money suddenly gives them more free time than they know what to do with. The structure falls away, and they’re left asking who they are apart from what they did. A lot of us never face that question, because entertainment and busyness keep us from ever sitting quietly long enough to ask it.
If AI takes your career, that particular career might be over, but who you are isn’t changed. It can even be an opportunity to change, if you’re open to it and open to God’s provision. Ultimately the question underneath “Who am I without my job?” is “Who is God, and what was I created for?” That question doesn’t depend on any employer.
I don’t want to make that sound easy. Answering who you are doesn’t pay the mortgage, and nobody should pretend that introspection replaces an income. But the two problems are different, and confusing them makes both harder.
Preparing the livelihood
The practical side is that the old promise of a college degree no longer assures anyone security, and I think a lot of jobs will be under pressure over the next ten to fifteen years. That’s my forecast, not a certainty. The places I’d look are skills that are harder to replace, ownership where it’s appropriate, and relationships.
The trades are a good example. Mike Rowe, the Dirty Jobs host, has talked about how for every five people leaving the trades, only two are coming in to replace them. Even if that changes, it will take years, because people have to be trained. My guess is that even humanoid robots aren’t going to replace that kind of work for at least ten or fifteen years, maybe longer, if it happens at all.
And people are still going to want to talk to people. Developing real relationships with your customers and becoming a stalwart member of your local economy doesn’t make you immune. But it buys you more time. Nobody can truly predict what happens over the next fifteen years. What I’m confident of is that relationships will still be needed, and more so as the world becomes more AI-based.
Do today’s duty
So my advice is two things at once. Separate your worth from your function now, before anyone forces you to. And then do what your duty is today: learn the skills, build the relationships, take care of the people in front of you. Stop worrying so much about what may or may not happen. None of us knows what’s coming with AI. All of us know what we’re supposed to do this week.