How Not To Get Replaced By AI

I'll try to keep this short and expand in the comments. I run a meetup in Seattle helping people prepare for the upcoming disruption in the job market due to AI. The basic thesis is the cliche "you won't get replaced by AI but by someone who knows how to use AI". That goes out the window with AGI/ASI but for the next couple years, that is somewhat valid.

There are many professions that are AI safe forever - human made art will always be in demand. Sports professionals will be in demand, even when robots are better ballers. In the near term - 15 years and less, professions like plumbing and electricians, doctors, nurses, are safe. Please list any other safe professions.

In the short term, many professions are at risk. If you're a software developer, well my personal experience has been that I can do the work of 3-5 junior developers using AI tools. In fact I built an app in a couple hours that would have taken me 1-2 years before (part time work 2 years). OpenAI is claiming they have a model that is scoring 50th in the world on a benchmark, and may reach #1 by the end of the year. So coding algorithms is going to be replaced soon. But taking fuzzy requirements and turning them into a design, that is further out. And not all AI generated code will necessarily work without some assistance. Simple apps are easy to generate but once it gets more complicated AI can't do the entire job. A senior dev is required to get everything to work.

My personal prediction is in 5 years, for development of software, including AI development, a single senior/principal engineer managing AI can do the work of between 10-100 seniors without AI.

So basically, there are two paths to being able to generate revenue in the next couple years (less than 15 years when my predictions are all off, who knows what will happen). You either do something that is always going to be needed to be done by humans like human created art or sports, or you learn to use AI to be more powerful and do more.

Corporations will need far less people and there will be massive layoffs and unemployment. For a certain period of time though, a couple people (or even just one person) can use AI tools to run an entire company and create value. When you own your own company, you are not at risk of getting laid off. However, depending on the business, others may be able to saturate the market and do the same thing. So if you can combine real world value like a bake shop, you're better off, than just building a SaaS that is 100% automated.

This is just a little bit of information we've gathered, agreed on, I wanted to share. Generating value and income is a good thing, for the time being, until all bets are off and 99% of jobs are automated.

So what are you doing to get prepared for getting replaced by AI? And maybe you're not affected by AI job replacement yet, maybe you don't have experience yet, and need to get it, or you've been laid off by a corporation and looking for work. Are you using AI to be more productive? To increase your marketability?

I'm curious what is the pain you've experienced in staying up to date with AI and being as powerful as you can be using these exponentially increasing capabilities. Do you use e-learning? apps? How are you keeping your skills up to date? How are you building companies? What are you doing? If you're not doing anything yet but just spectating, when do you plan to make a change and get going before its too late? AI is making the impossible possible. What are you doing to be an active participant and not just a bystander?

In summary, my thesis is that as we accelerate, corporations will shrink in size, unemployment will increase, but there will be a large number of small corporations that will be created, creating an enormous amount of value and innovation. Perhaps you'll be one of those business owners solving hard problems that were impossible before. Let's hear from you!