On AI, Jobs, and Why We\u2019re Asking the Wrong Questions<\/p>\n
Photo by Sage Friedman<\/a> on\u00a0Unsplash<\/a><\/p>\n Everyone\u2019s panicking about AI taking our jobs. Artists worry it\u2019ll replace creativity. Developers wonder if coding will become obsolete. Writers fear they\u2019ll be automated away.<\/p>\n My two cents on the matter: we\u2019re just not having the right conversation. AI doesn\u2019t replace creative work. It changes what \u201ccreative work\u201d\u00a0means.<\/strong><\/p>\n When calculators were invented, the world didn\u2019t banish mathematicians. It made a transition from needing human calculators to needing people who could solve different problems. The creative labor shifted from exact calculation to actual application.<\/p>\n When photography was invented, painters didn\u2019t become extinct. Painting moved away from photographic documentation and into a whole new world of creativity, expression, interpretation, and\u00a0more.<\/p>\n AI is doing the same thing. It\u2019s not killing creativity as a whole; it\u2019s killing certain types of creativity and making space for ones we haven\u2019t even thought of\u00a0yet.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s precisely where the fallacy begins. The idea is that, with the rise of AI, learning to code or acquiring any form of technical skill is really about \u201cstaying ahead of AI.\u201d That\u2019s not really the point,\u00a0though.<\/p>\n Learning to code, acquiring any form of technical skill, is really about understanding the infrastructure of the world that\u2019s being built. When I learned Python, for instance, I was not learning how to write better than any AI. I was learning how to think, how to understand the systems being built, how to understand the flow of data, and how to determine whether a problem needed a loop, a function, or a complete architectural overhaul.<\/p>\n AI can write code, yes. But it can\u2019t, as of now, understand the context for which you\u2019re needing a solution for a specific problem. The point isn\u2019t really the code itself. The point is knowing what to ask\u00a0for.<\/p>\n Building Publicly Is the New\u00a0Literacy<\/em><\/p>\n The unspoken shift in the way we build things is verification. In an age where an AI can produce almost anything, be it code, art, words, or credentials, how do you actually prove you created something? How do you actually prove you have skills? How do you actually distinguish between understanding something and just regurgitating it?<\/p>\n You build publicly.<\/em><\/p>\n My journey to learning Python, however disorganized on Medium, is proof that I\u2019m actually learning. My DID project on GitHub is proof that I can actually build something.<\/p>\n AI can replicate results. It can\u2019t replicate process.<\/em><\/p>\n Building publicly is about creating a verifiable process to prove you\u2019ve been on a journey. In an age dominated by AI, process is now worth more than\u00a0product.<\/p>\n The Real Question: What Can Only Humans Do?<\/strong> Asking questions that no one else would think to\u00a0askCombining ideas from completely unrelated fieldsCaring about something without a clear return on investmentCreating for the sake of interest, rather than for maximum efficiencyMaking mistakes and learning from them out loud, in\u00a0public<\/p>\n AI learns from what already exists. Humans create something that does not exist. When I decided to build a DID system on a Chromebook, it wasn\u2019t because it was optimal or efficient. It was something that no AI would have suggested. It was mine. It was unique. It was born from a mix of constraints, curiosity, and stubbornness. This is something that AI cannot replicate. Not because it cannot, but because it lacks the stubborn unreasonableness that defines human creativity.<\/p>\n How Humans Evolve: We Build the Infrastructure for What\u2019s Next<\/strong> Verification infrastructures: how do we verify human involvement?Collaboration infrastructures: how do we collaborate with\u00a0AI?New forms of value: what\u2019s valuable if AI can do everything?Ethical infrastructures: who owns AI-created content, and who\u2019s liable for its\u00a0misuse?<\/p>\n These are the opportunities that create jobs. Not by competing against AI. By building a world that includes both humans and AI. And that\u2019s impossible to do unless you have a technical foundation. Learn technical skills. Not to compete. To\u00a0build.<\/p>\n AI is not here to take over our work as creators. It\u2019s pushing us toward a more profound, more extensive concept of what \u201cwork as a creator\u201d can really entail. The individuals who will prosper are not the ones with the most incisive prompts or the most sophisticated AI tools. The individuals who will prosper are the ones\u00a0who:<\/p>\n know the systems they are working\u00a0withinbuild things in the open, so they can be\u00a0verifiedpose inquiries that the AI itself would not think to\u00a0posebuild the infrastructure for problems that have not even been conceived<\/p>\n Yes, learn to code. Learn to build. Learn to work with AI. Contrarian Thoughts<\/a> was originally published in Coinmonks<\/a> on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On AI, Jobs, and Why We\u2019re Asking the Wrong Questions Photo by Sage Friedman on\u00a0Unsplash Everyone\u2019s panicking about AI taking our jobs. Artists worry it\u2019ll replace creativity. Developers wonder if coding will become obsolete. Writers fear they\u2019ll be automated away. My two cents on the matter: we\u2019re just not having the right conversation.The narrative that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":142341,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-142340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142340"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=142340"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142340\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/142341"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=142340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=142340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mycryptomania.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=142340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
The narrative that we\u2019re all fed is: \u201cAI is coming for your job. AI is coming for your art. AI is coming for your creativity. AI is coming for your livelihood.\u201d
From my experiences building a decentralized identity system, writing publicly about Python, and using AI as a tool in my own\u00a0work.<\/p>\nLearning Technical Skills Isn\u2019t About Competing With\u00a0AI<\/h3>\n
From my own experience building a decentralized identity system, here are some things that humans are uniquely good\u00a0at:<\/p>\n
Every technology shift creates its own set of infrastructure requirements:
The printing press created the need for libraries, copyright laws, and literacy programs.
The internet created the need for web standards, cybersecurity, and digital literacy programs.
Now, AI is driving the need\u00a0for:<\/strong><\/p>\nThe Contrarian Conclusion<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Not because you are competing with it.
But because you are designing the world that the AI lives within.
And that\u2019s a job only humans can\u00a0do.<\/p>\n