How to Future Proof Your Career in the Age of AI (The Brutal Truth)

Welcome to the Prompt. I'm Jim Carter. This show guarantees tech news and updates that shape your life and future. Since it's essential now to stay on top of AI, we'll figure it out together so you don't fall behind. I'm here to explain it, offer some deep insights, and spark a little curiosity along the way. If you're a techie like me, or just AI curious, hit that follow button for the advantage you deserve. Let's dive in. Hey there. Welcome back to the Prompt. I'm your host Jim Carter, and today we're diving into a hot topic that's been making waves online. AI and Job replacement. There was a recent tweet about a BBC story that really got me thinking. It covered how 60 writers and editors who did content marketing for a tech company were reduced to a staff of one editor who now edits articles and blog posts written by Chat GPT. It's an extreme example of how entire fields could be decimated by AI. There was a reply to that tweet that offered a pretty compelling perspective, and this might sting a little. It said that if ChatGPT can take your content marketing job, you didn't really have a job to begin with. You were basically just a human slop generator. Now, I know there is nuance to this, but the underlying point is valid. So let's unpack it together. Don't get me wrong, I would love a world with zero percent unemployment. In fact, one of my big pie in the sky dreams is figuring out how to end unemployment altogether. But what good is a world filled with jobs where people are doing such mundane, repetitive, mindless work that the job was bound to get replaced by technology eventually anyway? Really think about that for a second if you're in one of those jobs. And I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's time to start rethinking your mission and the value you're providing. And if you're paying for these types of services, just know they're going to get replaced by AI. It's not a matter of if, but when. In a world where everyone's afraid of AI taking jobs, it's important to realize that no one who's creating an abundance of original value is even worried about it. Which begs the question, are we creating more value than tech can replace? Let's look at some real examples that impact all of us every single day. Remember when you needed a human to manually connect your phone calls? Well, some of you probably won't remember that, but you know it wasn't that long ago. Then automated switching and digital telecoms made that job obsolete. Or how about ice delivery for ice boxes? Before electric fridges, you literally had to have blocks of ice regularly delivered to keep your food cold. Electric refrigeration eliminated the need for the iceman altogether. Even something as basic as doing laundry, that used to be a full time manual job. I mean, you used to have to scrub clothes on a washboard, boil the water and wring things out by hand. Washing machines and dryers have all but erased that work. And typing? We used to employ huge numbers of typists just to produce documents, letters and reports. And now personal computers and photocopiers took care of that. You don't see anyone clamoring to bring back the Iceman, do you? The point is, yes, AI will take a lot of jobs, but guess what? It'll also create more jobs than it eliminates. And one day we will look back on it like we do hand washing and ice delivery. I'll say it one more time for the people in the back. Create more value than tech can replace. That is how you future proof your career in the age of AI. If you're curious to explore this topic further and really dive into how to position yourself for success, I'd love for you to join me and a bunch of other forward thinking leaders over in my Fast Foundation Slack community. It's where we get into AI on a more advanced level. I share the latest tools and strategies I'm seeing, and I even do live office hours to help members work through their challenges. You can drop your name on the waitlist@fastfoundations.com Slack I'd be thrilled to have you there. All right, that's all for this episode. As always, thank you for tuning in and let's keep pushing the boundaries of what's possible one prompt at a time. I'll catch you in the next one.