A survey conducted by Resume Builder reveals that 37% of workers were laid off in 2023 because of AI. According to the same report, 44% of business leaders say AI will lead to more layoffs in 2024.
It’s no surprise technologies can do certain limited tasks better than humans can. It’s why hammers, windmills, printers, cups, jets, cars, and Microsoft Office exist in the first place. However, artificial intelligence feels different because it is “intelligent,” something that is traditionally believed to set us uniquely apart.
So far, most jobs replaced by AI are customer support, but there is no reason to expect marketing, writing, and content jobs will now also be threatened. Generative AI programs like ChatGPT, Midjourney, and Perplexity create essays, stories, and intricate images in seconds.
For workers to remain valuable in the 21st century, they will need to avoid competing with AI by finding problems where the solution has nothing to do with speed.
It should relieve marketers, coders, and authors that there is no need to compete with AI in writing generic prose, designing eye-catching visuals, or editing videos faster. They can do what they’re best at: creating value in unlikely places.
One of the ways that value is created is by talking about problems that no one realizes are there and providing a solution.
Which mathematician will get more recognition or is more likely to be hired by a university for a professorship: One that can process equations faster than a calculator or one that can create new problems outside the current reach of a calculator? The former seems ludicrous because that kind of computational speed is beyond human capabilities, and if such a person exists, his skill is not transferrable to other people. The latter is more interesting since it implies not a justification for human solution-making, but for problem-making. A new equation will require a novel algorithm. Great problem-solvers tend to have the instincts of a troublemaker.
We will all need to be troublemakers for jobs to survive the AI revolution.
