AI will proceed with or without us

“What are you going to be when you grow up?” is perhaps the worst question adults ever ask a kid. In some ways it may encourage them to hope and dream. In most cases – especially as the child becomes an adolescent deep into high school, the question becomes more about rote conversation between two people who have no idea what to say to each other. It’s a rhetorical gap filler, almost devoid of meaning.

Among the many problems with this question is it presumes at some point someone will ring a bell and say, “Time’s up. You’re an adult now. We need a final answer.”

This is where we bring adults into this same conversation. Perhaps we adults need to be asking ourselves this question despite its inherent faults too.  

Some of us find our vocations and avocations to be the same. They’re the lucky ones who get paid to do what they love.  

Some of us had to figure out how to separate them.  Some activities pay the bills. Some give us meaning, fulfillment, and happiness.  

Adults need to be able to pay bills. Adults also need to have some sense of gratification and fulfillment in life. These need not come from the same activities, but the latter is generally better accomplished if the former is secure.

Artificial Intelligence has become a bit of a boogeyman in this conversation for adults and adolescents alike. It’s presented as an opportunity to some, but received as an excuse and scapegoat for change by many others.  For those looking at current and future careers, it’s probably best viewed as an accelerator pedal.  It’s going to take a lot of current technology’s progress arc, and step on the gas.

Change is coming, with or without AI.  This is just a truism in life. 

Some of us deal with change better than others. When we’re constantly told our ability to pay bills or even find a job is at risk, our resistance to that change increases exponentially.

We’re now seeing that resistance pop up from the usual suspects who want to tell you not only that we can stop change, but that we should reject what is new (and is thus perceived as dangerous).  They have little to stop the development of the software stack or chip designs making great leaps in AI, so they’re targeting data centers. 

There may be legitimate reasons to block the construction of a data center in a specific location. Zoning laws do exist, after all. 

Pretending that slowing down the development of data centers will solve the problems associated with AI will have the same result as pretending suburban sprawl can be stopped with impact fees, building design standards, and random rezoning moratoriums and/or rejections.

Change will still happen. It will just be more disorganized and more expensive.

How we individually and as cities, counties, states, and a country prepare for it will determine its impact on our lives and our economy.  It’s important that we approach the topic not with a view that AI is good or bad, but rather, that it “is.”  

AI exists.  Under the umbrella of this term lies many new technologies that can and will affect the way we work and live. It will affect our vocations and our avocations. Attempts to stop this change by slowing it down will only make the outcomes more disjointed and expensive, while also likely allowing foreign adversaries to take the lead in what and how these technologies are developed. 

So back to the question, “What do you want to be doing now as a grownup?” This is a question we all should be asking ourselves, and it deserves a mature, grownup answer. 

Those of us not yet retired need to understand that employers pay us for the value we can create for them.  AI will likely replace many tasks we currently perform for our wages. 

There are two broad options for those in and those soon to be in the workforce to deal with this.  We can learn and use these tools to become more efficient and thus more productive. Alternatively, we can choose jobs and career paths that are harder to replace with technology alone. 

There are no easy answers. The truth is, however, there never has been. 

Whether in an agrarian economy that was largely dependent on the weather, an industrial revolution that forced changes in labor and pollution standards, or the advent of computers and software, workers have always had the uneasy challenge of figuring out how to adapt to what initially looked like a scary new world.

We can pretend it’s not happening and try to hide from what is likely inevitable. Or, we can do what grownups must do, and plan for adjustments now to ultimately ensure we are among those rewarded from change that will happen with or without our participation.