A.I. is coming. No one is really sure how long it will take. It could be next year, it might not happen for a 100 years. But everyone involved in this field agrees it is on the horizon.

This isn’t the fear of some Terminator like future, though that is possible outcome.

It is that when A.I. does eventually arrive, it will ripple out into all walks of life, all types of employment. It will become not just possible, but more importantly, it will become economically cheaper to employ A.I. systems to do work that currently only humans can do.

It will start with basic, mundane stuff that no one really wants to do. Yet it will displace those workers.

And then it will expand, gathering speed and complexity.

Some careers will remain safe, many won’t.

Some scientists point to the industrial revolution, how that was similar, and that new, different types of jobs that had not even been thought of were created as part of this mass social change. Yet none of them can describe what new jobs may be created for humans from an A.I. revolution.

It is worrying. Unsettling. Have a read of Manna to see the type of world this could create.

And some groups are already actively trying to find solutions, such as the Lifeboat Foundation.

A good write up can be found here.

Read those two links. Reflect on it. And prepare yourself. More importantly, prepare your children for this new world. And your children’s children.

Consider what skills may be required in a world where so many tasks are automated. What is it that sets us apart, that can never be completely imitated. These are the questions to consider.