What Will The Jobs Be?

People are afraid that Artificial Intelligence will take their jobs and that they will become poor while the top “trillionaires” hoard all the wealth. While this communist fantasy sounds cool if you are into fearmongering and stymieing technological progress, I doubt this will happen. Yes, AI has some problems, but I believe that we can solve them with, at the very most, very limited legislation. However, this has not answered the broader concern.

There is, unfortunately, a strong backlash to Artificial Intelligence. It is becoming the next “I don’t use social media” virtue signal. People are whining about the environment or saying they feel like they are getting dumber, etc. However, as irrational as these fears may be, we can tap into them, and that is where the jobs will come from. In the art industry, verified “real” art will become desirable, as people will not want that stink of “AI slop.” We will probably see this in movies and TV as well, as people pretend to resist ‘fascism’ or whatever by hating AI, thus preserving some jobs in that niche. However, the rest of us are not all artists. Some of us have jobs that could be replaced. Now, while I doubt that and believe that we will find new jobs, let us assume that every job gets wiped out and you are not a creative artistic person. What kind of job will you get? Content creation.

Content creation is exploding in popularity. Short-form content has replaced TV and movies for many people, and plenty of people have made money producing content. YouTube has paid out over 70 billion dollars to creators over the last 3 yrs and TikTok and Instagram have over 3 billion combined users. Now, in this hypothetical, people massively flock to social media and livestreaming platforms to create content and talk about their day, their entertainment choices, and their policy views. We have seen tons of new independent journalism outlets pop up online, and I predict we will see many more. The application Citizen shows events happening around you that are not picked up by mainstream outlets because the events are minuscule.

Now, in this new age, people will directly report on what is happening right in front of them. People will give their takes and opinions daily. Instagram has transformed from a simple video sharing application into your gateway to entertainment, memes, commentary, essentially the world. Just as TV was dominant in the 80s, now 50% of Gen Z say they prefer short-form video over traditional TV. Just like the MSN portal of the 1990s, social media platforms have become the internet. The walled garden has been rebuilt, but it has been democratized from the few to the many, and this space will continue to grow. In this new age, while everything is done for us, we humans will still want an outlet for our creativity.

Almost every major application in the Play Store is either a social, shopping, or gaming app. This is what computers have become. People watch others play games, people watch IRL livestreams, and people watch “get ready with me” videos, and they bring in tons of money. Technology has progressed to the point where this is the dominant entertainment factor in people’s lives. With shopping applications, people can get brand deals, ad deals from companies, and sponsorships.

For years, people have talked about being authentic on social media, and that was a lie. Now, in the age of AI, authenticity might reign supreme and become our new currency. Legislation will not stop what is coming. It is best we embrace it and become leaders in this new way of life.

God bless.
Tech Talk. Talk to you later.