I have previously written about how AI is going to eat your lunch, and while I think that a lot of the hype around AI is unfounded, it is definitely not nothing. The problem that few seem to get is that we are at the bottom of an exponential curve in terms of capability, and exponentials are something the human brain really isn’t wired to understand.

We are at the start of this process, but it already has got a lot of people worried. We have been through large rounds of disruptive automation and outsourcing before, but unlike those former rounds which fell on the working classes (which nobody ever seems to care about when it happens), this time the axe is going to fall on middle class knowledge workers who had previously considered themselves immune. The first wave of disruption may arrive much sooner than people expect, perhaps within a few years rather than decades. Certainly, if I was an accountant, contract lawyer, or doing diagnostic medicine, I would be … very worried.

In my line of work, I have already seen significant disruption in my day to day and I have previously written about how AI has effectively become another team member to which I delegate work to, for better or worse.

AI is not going to go away, and indeed it is only going to get more sophisticated, but if you think about it we have seen this before when it was humans disrupting things through outsourcing, and to survive you need to adapt rather than fight (or cope that “they couldn’t do my job”).

As far as I can see, you’ve got two option.

Don’t be a widget maker

First off is to accept that if you’ve previously been someone who crafts widgets (be that writing code, or crafting contracts, or even designing buildings or producing artwork) you’re going to have to shift your role. What I mean is that in the (near) future it’s the AI that is going to be crafting functions, writing clauses or holding the virtual pencil.

AI is going to handle the practical process. The How.

However, what AI can’t do, and likely never will in a way that’s useful to humans, is decide what to build and to verify that what has been built is what was wanted. The what and the why must always be driven by the human, so long as humans live, since it’s human wishes that we are seeking to make manifest.

So as a craftsman, artist or engineer, your role shifts from tradesman to CEO. You write the specification, clearly (which is an art in its own right), and then use your expertise to validate the results and offer changes. This also involves gathering those requirements from other squishy humans.

Of course it’s the last step that’s the thorny issue as AI progresses, since it’s only as junior engineers and journeymen that we get to understand what “correct” even looks like. AI makes mistakes, whether by hallucination or by misunderstanding of the spec (which happens with humans as well), and so you will need to check that what you get is what you want functionally, and in terms of the why.

What does this mean for you?

Understand that the value you’re going to provide is no longer going to be “slinging code” or similar. You’re not going to be paid to write code. Your client can do that themselves now. Your job is to understand the what and the why. To provide the strategy, and understand what needs to be done to get there. You’re not going to be paid to write functions and classes, in the same way nobody is paid to copy books by hand.

You need to get to the point where you’re thinking in terms of delegating work to others, and writing clear specifications you can hand over to a human rfn, and get comfortable doing code review. As a junior dev this might be hard, but get there somehow. If you’re not using the AI tools available for your industry, stop what you’re doing and do so now. Speaking directly to my fellow introverted software engineers, I’m afraid you’re going to have to work on those social skills as well.

The safest place to be in an AI economy is not producing the work, but defining and judging the work.

Trade on luxury

Harder for an engineer, but easier for artists I suppose, but I will point out that people still pay money for artisan furniture, overpriced sourdough and pictures by famous painters, even though there are cheap mass produced options available.

Hand built furniture or Ikea. Both markets have customers, but you have to pick one. If AI makes production cheap, the remaining value comes from trust, taste, reputation and experience.

Do you have enough cachet that people will seek you out rather than others, and pay a premium for it? Harder, but I’ve made a living out of that even in IT, since through my involvement in certain niche projects meant I was the go-to guy for implementations. People would pay a premium for my involvement, development, and to my first point, strategic advice.

You’re going to have to sell the whole experience, which means branding, sales and after care (again, squishy human stuff). Apple, famously sell the entire experience of buying their products – from store, to packaging, to technical integration. People pay a premium for that, even in a world where there are technically better computers and phones.

They trade on the status not the device. The iPhone is marketed as the high status phone, in the same way as both an Limo and a cheap Honda will both get you to your destination just as well, but you’re unlikely to see Taylor Swift turn up to the Grammys in the Honda.

Be high status.

Inevitability

Whether it’s overhyped or not, AI is coming, and it would be wise to plan for that.

This shift will break a lot of old assumptions about work, but it also creates opportunity. The tools we already have dramatically reduce the cost of experimentation, and in an AI world the winners won’t necessarily be the best craftsmen, they’ll be the fastest at trying ideas.

The people who adapt will do very well.

Everyone else will be competing with the machine.

So protect yourself. Start experimenting.

..and maybe learn to vibe code.

Because if you don’t, someone who did will replace you.