Daily Inspiration: “Chase your opportunities, instead of running from your fears!”

“Chase your opportunities, instead of running from your fears!” – Futurist Jim Carroll

Lots of people are suddenly scared of AI, convinced that their jobs and careers are now at risk. They’re doing it wrong. Instead of shrinking in fear, they should be thinking more forward – how will I use these new tools to enhance my career and job opportunities?

Job loss? You’ve seen the articles – there are hundreds of them, all predicting that we will soon see massive job cuts as ChatGPT and other technologies wreak their havoc and destruction. Countless surveys indicate that people believe that job losses are imminent, already happening, or have already occurred. It took me just seconds to find a typical one – but at least, this one offered some balance with the worry!

Some employers want A.I. to help employees with their jobs. Others want fewer employees.

Almost half of employees–49 percent–fear they will lose their jobs to A.I., according to a new survey commissioned by Microsoft. At the same time, 70 percent hope that A.I. will help them manage their ever-growing workloads instead. It’s clear from these numbers that many people see A.I. as both a benefit and a threat.

This oddly contradictory view of artificial intelligence is somehow a perfect symbol of its place in our imaginations at this moment in history–something that will eliminate countless jobs, boost creativity, and put an end to drudgery, or perhaps a monstrous force that will take over our planet and enslave humanity.

Except for that last one, these predictions are already coming true. If you’re an employer–or even a solopreneur–you need to think through how your business might use A.I. and may be affected by it. You also need to give employees some clear guidance on how A.I. might affect them in both good and bad ways.

A Survey of 31,000 Employees Shows 49 Percent Fear A.I. Will Steal Their Jobs. They’re Right to Worry
18 May 2023, Inc. Magazine

At least in this one, there is recognition of both sides of the AI coin. But, the other part of the story is the prediction that ChatGPT and other tools will lead to real job losses in the next few years:

Real-world events bear this out. Almost at the same time that Microsoft released its report, the Wall Street Journal reported that the hundreds of thousands of knowledge worker jobs lost in layoffs over the past couple of years won’t reappear any time soon. A.I. is one big reason why not. For example, IBM CEO Arvind Krishna told Bloomberg he could “easily see” 30 percent of the company’s back-office roles replaced by A.I. over the next five years.

A Survey of 31,000 Employees Shows 49 Percent Fear A.I. Will Steal Their Jobs. They’re Right to Worry
18 May 2023, Inc. Magazine

…and the article goes on with an acknowledgment that new skills are required in this complex new era:

The survey asked employers if employees would need new skills, given the rising prevalence of A.I. The answer was yes from 82 percent of them. But the most important of these seemed to be soft rather than hard skills. Thirty percent said employees would need analytical judgment, 29 percent named flexibility, and 27 percent said they’d need emotional intelligence. Only 21 percent thought A.I. delegation (i.e., creating effective prompts) would be an important skill.

Whether you love A.I. or fear it, whether you think it will give people new and better ways to do their jobs or make those jobs disappear, the reality is that A.I. is here and it can’t be ignored or legislated away. It will change our jobs, and our companies too, in unimaginable ways. Every business owner–and every employee–needs to learn about A.I. and how to harness its power.

This is the type of balanced article that I think is necessary for these most interesting of times.

What’s the point? As with all aspects of our technological revolution of the last 100 years or so, there are several key trends:

• some jobs will disappear
• new jobs will evolve
• some old skills will go out of date
• new skills will emerge
• the folks who win in this great transition will be those who develop those new skills and evolve into those new jobs and careers

So if you are running in fear instead of chasing opportunities – you are doing it all wrong!

How do we know this? Because history teaches us that this has always been the case! Let me share a post I wrote back in 2016 which took on the topic of technology-driven job disappearance. The post, “OMG!!!! Man is DOOMED by the Machine Age! Giant Robot Brains Are Destroying Jobs!“, took apart the issue by examining some old magazine articles that predicted technology and AI-driven job loss. I wrote the article because back in 2017, there was also a bit of hysteria about technology and AI-related job loss.

Read it here.

OMG!!!! Man is DOOMED by the Machine Age! Giant Robot Brains Are Destroying Jobs!

We live in terrifying times! Terrifying headlines! We’re all going to lose our jobs! The juggernaut of automation has us all in its sights!

Everywhere we turn, there’s terror in the news. Is it real, is it fake? I don’t know, but it sure seems that 2017 is the year of the big job automation disruption!

What should we do? Let’s come up with some sort of plan to help all these displaced workers! A big dialog is necessary. Plans. Guaranteed income strategies. Things like that.

OMG! It’s pretty clear that mankind is doomed by the era of automation! Doomed by the machine age!

After all, machines are destroying jobs! There are photos! Pictures even!

It’s even the end of jobs for musicians!

Not only that, but robot brains are even coming up with story plots, having a dreadful impact on creative industries!

And hey, maybe we shouldn’t worry — we can all just enjoy all the extra leisure time that we are going to have.

Look maybe everybody should calm down some.

The older images in this post are from Modern Mechanix and Popular Science, from the 1930s.

I’m sorry, I don’t want to seem insensitive or anything, but can everybody just calm down with all the hysteria about this issue?

Yes, there are serious issues at work here. And yes, the future happens. But as I wrote in my other blog post, Things That Won’t Happen in 2017: and What it Means,:

• AI and robots aren’t going to make a lot of jobs disappear in 2017. People are freaking out about this one everywhere! This idea is perhaps one of the defining trends observations of 2016: that sweeping technological change – particularly AI and robotics — is going to render countless jobs, professions, and skills obsolete. It’s certainly going to become real, and this is a pretty significant and profound trend. But like these other trends, it isn’t something that is going to happen with split-second instantaneity. Also, missing in this conversation is the reality at the same time that existing jobs and careers disappear, we are seeing the emergence of all kinds of new jobs and careers.

Consider that last bit of that phrase:  the reality at the same time that existing jobs and careers disappear, we are seeing the emergence of all kinds of new jobs and careers.

Yes, automation has destroyed jobs in manufacturing and countless other industries. And yet, there are many new jobs in manufacturing and elsewhere. New jobs and careers are being created, right before our very eyes.

That’s always been the case in the past. Will be in the future.

Can there be some rational discussion around this stuff?

And maybe, just maybe, it might be a good time for some tools to test the intellect of many of those at the forefront of the hysteria. There’s a tool for that. Click to enlarge…

I think the same guidance still holds true today. I’m not trying to discount things, but I am trying to provide balance.

The key idea? “At the same time that existing jobs and careers disappear, we are seeing the emergence of all kinds of new jobs and careers.”

Keep that in mind – and don’t fear the future, but adapt to the future!