“You won’t lose your job to AI; you’ll lose your job to somebody who uses AI.”
When I first read this quote from Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, it hit me like a bucket of ice water. It evoked feelings of both fear and inspiration but, above all, really got me curious about why so many tech leaders wholeheartedly believe this is the case.
The future of work will be AI first, there’s no doubt about that. Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff recently stated that AI now performs an estimated 30-50% of the company's internal work, but the term ‘internal work’ doesn’t just refer to simple mindless tasks. Benioff explained how Salesforce has determined that AI can handle more complex and nuanced aspects of the business such as customer inquiries with 93% accuracy, a shockingly high value considering that this technological revolution is still in its infancy.
If this is where we are now, where will we be in five, ten, or twenty years? How will it affect both specific industries and the workforce as a whole? These are questions that currently, don’t have concrete answers but we can dive deeper into how to prepare for what is inevitably coming. The strategies we will explore are not for the closed minded and will require both time and effort, but this struggle may be the worthiest one you take on in your professional career.
Before we get too complex you must understand this simple truth:
Easy tasks will become automated, hard tasks will become easy, and tasks that were previously deemed “impossible” will become hard.
This is the consensus of how major business leaders see AI impacting day to day work as a whole going forward. So what can you and I do right now to prepare for these changes? First and foremost, if you’re not familiar with the basics of AI today, you are already behind. Even the simplest understanding of how you can use the technology for your own benefit puts you miles ahead of most people. If you’re a student like me, I believe this understanding is not just beneficial but essential to maximize chances of future success.
If you don’t feel currently acclimated with the technology, there are a few steps I would take.
Step 1: Play around and see what it can do for you.
AI is not perfect but can still be used in ways beyond simply writing emails and performing quick calculations. If you really want to learn how generative AI can assist you daily, I recommend at least one hour a day simply experimenting with your software of choice. In my case, I used ChatGPT for at least one hour a day over a three-week period and was surprised with how effective it could be at tasks I didn’t previously use it for. The key here however is that this requires consistent effort. I only learned how to maximize AI helping my productivity through attempting to use it for a variety of tasks. Through that I discovered what works well, what does not, and what I had to do differently to get better results. For example, staying up to date with the financial markets and keeping note of short/intermediate term trends is essential for me as a business student and ChatGPT is something I’ve found incredibly useful for this. Rather than scouring Google for articles and finding common themes, now I simply use ChatGPT or Grok to summarize news and detect patterns in a matter of minutes.
Step 2: Poor input = poor output, learn the basics of prompt engineering.
“Prompt engineering” has been one of the hottest terms in the tech space this year but when broken down, it’s quite simple. Prompt engineering is simply learning how to communicate with the software you are using more effectively to improve the output you get. Someone with the same goal of output can get a vastly different result from the same AI model simply by providing a different prompt than someone else. These discrepancies in output, despite two users having the same goal, are what many believe to be one of AI’s biggest weaknesses currently. But the good thing is, by having just a very simple understanding of how to properly craft a prompt you can achieve much better results. Resources I would recommend include Databricks (has certifications you can get that provide a good general overview) and internet personalities like Dan Koe, who has a great understanding of AI as a whole and runs a podcast where he frequently gives practical examples of good prompts and how to craft similar ones for your own tasks. All in all however, this is something you learn through practice more than anything. That’s why integrating this step and step one together is crucial.
Step 3: Everyone has an opinion on AI, but only certain opinions matter. Be selective with who you listen to.
Let’s be blunt, your grandpa probably hates AI but does his opinion really matter? Whenever a new technological development takes the world by storm, it will inevitably draw lots of speculation and criticism. But not necessarily because it's flawed, but because it's hard for most people to understand especially in the early years. So next time you hear someone babbling about the negative effects of AI, ask yourself, “Does this person really have the authority, knowledge, and understanding to make this claim? Or are they just overly speculative and trying to prove a point that has no real ground?” I always keep that in mind when listening to someone speak about AI, don’t let someone else’s bias skew your view on something that is shaping our futures.
Building off that last point, I want to touch on a pattern I’ve noticed when it comes to how certain people feel about AI.
Average people are still speculative, successful people are all in.
This is a trend I’ve noticed when it comes to AI, and I don’t think it is a coincidence. Those at the top know the implications that this technology will truly have on the world and are already trying to familiarize their base with it. People who do not take on this mindset will fall behind and may eventually be phased out of their field completely. If you feel you are currently in this speculative boat here are some questions, I would ask yourself to challenge that belief.
What do you have to lose by going all in? What do you have to gain by staying speculative?
My answer to each of these questions is simple: NOTHING. Staying cautious and speculative provides no benefit for me as many in my industry are already far more acclimated with AI than myself. That would only keep me further behind. I’d also argue that by learning everything you can about AI, you have nothing to lose. If everyone else is already doing it, they are gaining a potential benefit that you would miss out on by not doing the same. In my mind, going all in can only help.
Look at who supports AI and look at who doesn’t.
Leaders of the corporate world, politicians, and other people with access to more resources and knowledge than anyone else all believe this technology is the future. If that doesn’t scream “IMPORTANT” to you, then I don’t know what will. Yes, AI has issues, but everything revolutionary has issues at the stage AI is currently in. Accepting that fact should push anyone to learn as much as they can about how AI can help them and their future.
To close things out, AI has its issues and is obviously still developing. But when is the last time we have seen a technology gain this much traction in just a few years? For that reason, it’s crucial to not fall behind and to be acclimated with using AI as much as possible. AI is fun. Not just because it gives us a glimpse into the future of work but also playing around and learning through it is something I genuinely enjoy doing. An aspect I didn’t expect to find on this journey. If there’s one thing to take away from this article it’s that statement, there. Everyone is so negative when it comes to AI, saying it will “take our jobs” and “kill creativity”. But when you really see how remarkable it is at such an early stage, your opinion may change as mine did. We are fortunate right now to be witnessing one of the greatest technological shifts in recent history. I say we take that all in and observe the ways it’s truly helping the world rather than harping on its potential drawbacks. In these changing times, it's important to stay curious and to keep learning as if you know nothing at all. That’s the only way to stay ahead.