To be replaced by AI is a choice#
When I hear how people are afraid of being replaced by the AI, I picture this:
Scene setup: a person sits at their desk, doing routine office work.
Suddenly, a robot walks up and ask this person to move aside. The robot takes the workplace, and immediately picks up the routine.
The human is standing few feet away with a dispair all over the face. They realize that they’ve been replaced.
Few weeks later their fridge is empty and stomach is gurgling. Another week later, they’re standing on the street, looking at their old appartment building and contemplating how to be homeless.
The audience laughs and applauds.
This little sketch might not be so funny to some people. For example, a caricature unambitious person who learned one job, not demanding, but stable and safe. They do their nine to five, make weekend plans, and wait for retirement.
When I look back at my career path, I remember how I actively steered myself to be at the most demanded role within boundaries of my interest. Each job change, voluntary or not, was a step up. From part-time junior software engineer, to startup, to enterprise, followed by increased level of seniority. When REST APIs were all the rage, I was doing that. When chats took over, I was building a chat bot. When machine learning became the king, I moved into AI/ML. This is the time of opportunity, and opportunities are endless. AI revolution, if it ever comes, is not an overnight event, that puts everything upside down. It’s a gradual process with high visibility. As the new trends emerge, I’ll be sure to ride the wave.