The impact of AI on jobs
-
Tyler Cowen was on Odd Lots today. He’s unconcerned about overall employment with AI, thinks it’ll be like other technology revolutions where some jobs are destroyed by more are created.
He does think there are winners and losers. Super rich and poor will be fine. Upper upper middle class (his words) like lawyers and consultants will lose.
-
The super rich are always going to be fine unless we get into some kind of Robespierre scenario.
-
Also I think I can flag today, Nov 20, as the day where I might be late to the party, but am implementing AI in my workflow. I have Gemini 3 up on my screen and have been using it today. For example, I had an excel file with a list of people and a very random list of certifications for each person, some including the date, some including an abbreviation, etc.... I asked it to give me a clean standardized list of certifications and then map it to each person. So a few minutes later, I have a clean list of certifications (using official industry names) associated with each person. Incredible.
-
"Write me an amusing post that I could share on "The New Coffee Room" website":
Post:
You know you’ve reached peak coffee dependency when your morning routine looks like this:Step 1: Wake up.
Step 2: Question all life choices.
Step 3: Whisper to the coffee machine like it’s your therapist: >“You’re the only one who understands me.”
Step 4: Drink coffee. Suddenly, spreadsheets look like art and meetings sound like TED Talks.I’m starting to think my coffee mug deserves an employee badge at this point. Anyone else feel like their caffeine intake should count as a skill on LinkedIn?
Oh, my sides.
I could also post it as a meme, but I'm not going to as the hilarity that would ensue could be dangerous for some of our more sensitive membership on a Friday.
-
@Axtremus said in The impact of AI on jobs:
Yeah ... I prefer my computer cool and exacting.
Like a cucumber?
-
@jon-nyc said in The impact of AI on jobs:
That’s about 20% of their workforce.
Unemployment is still at extreme lows. I think we’ve been focusing on the wrong numbers over the last decade.
-
Plumbing school started winning in 2025:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2026/01/31/labor-market-gap-trade-workers-white-collar/
The unemployment gap between workers with bachelor’s degrees and those with occupational associate’s degrees — such as plumbers, electricians and pipe fitters — flipped in 2025, leaving trade workers with a slight edge for six months out of the past year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. It’s the first time trade workers have had a leg up since the BLS started tracking this data in the 1990s.
-
@Mik said in The impact of AI on jobs:
Learn to code using AI...
The people giving out this kind advice always seem to assume that everybody can do this stuff, as well as having the technology access and motivation.
@Doctor-Phibes said in The impact of AI on jobs:
@Mik said in The impact of AI on jobs:
Learn to code using AI...
The people giving out this kind advice always seem to assume that everybody can do this stuff, as well as having the technology access and motivation.
See my "An app I wrote using AI" thread. lol.
I saw this coming two plus years ago. An associate of mine has been producing production ready code for well over a year now using AI.
I think good app development and IT skills are still essential to getting the AI to help you create a production level app. You still have to have knowledge of how to create an app. What makes an app easy to use, accurate, safe, etc. As good as my little Android app is currently, I still want to put in more options like expiration dates of the current prescription, to make it safer, possibly HIPPA compliant since it deals with medical records, etc. For some of those features I need to add encryption to the database, maybe make it use biometrics for logging in, MFA, etc.
My daughter is a little upset that I used AI to create the splash screen. She's an artist who is a current student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She is going for her BA. I told her to design a new splash screen and I will happily replace the one AI generated.
I see a day when AI Prompting for <insert your profession here> classes will be offered if they aren't already. I haven't looked in to that. Maybe it's a viable business opportunity.
-
@Doctor-Phibes said in The impact of AI on jobs:
@Mik said in The impact of AI on jobs:
Learn to code using AI...
The people giving out this kind advice always seem to assume that everybody can do this stuff, as well as having the technology access and motivation.
See my "An app I wrote using AI" thread. lol.
I saw this coming two plus years ago. An associate of mine has been producing production ready code for well over a year now using AI.
I think good app development and IT skills are still essential to getting the AI to help you create a production level app. You still have to have knowledge of how to create an app. What makes an app easy to use, accurate, safe, etc. As good as my little Android app is currently, I still want to put in more options like expiration dates of the current prescription, to make it safer, possibly HIPPA compliant since it deals with medical records, etc. For some of those features I need to add encryption to the database, maybe make it use biometrics for logging in, MFA, etc.
My daughter is a little upset that I used AI to create the splash screen. She's an artist who is a current student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She is going for her BA. I told her to design a new splash screen and I will happily replace the one AI generated.
I see a day when AI Prompting for <insert your profession here> classes will be offered if they aren't already. I haven't looked in to that. Maybe it's a viable business opportunity.
@mark said in The impact of AI on jobs:
My daughter is a little upset that I used AI to create the splash screen. She's an artist who is a current student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She is going for her BA. I told her to design a new splash screen and I will happily replace the one AI generated.
What an impacted industry. I started out in graphic design, logos, websites, etc. My BIL used to design custom images for screenprinted shirts. He was telling me the other week that these days people can just ask AI for whatever image they want and it automatically can be ordered on a shirt. Even for me, I used to create custom graphics (such as for a website or presentation or even an cloud architecture diagram) and now I just ask Gemini and it's fine 95% of the time. The key is to find how to navigate a world when AI-assisted technology is all around.
-
@mark said in The impact of AI on jobs:
My daughter is a little upset that I used AI to create the splash screen. She's an artist who is a current student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She is going for her BA. I told her to design a new splash screen and I will happily replace the one AI generated.
What an impacted industry. I started out in graphic design, logos, websites, etc. My BIL used to design custom images for screenprinted shirts. He was telling me the other week that these days people can just ask AI for whatever image they want and it automatically can be ordered on a shirt. Even for me, I used to create custom graphics (such as for a website or presentation or even an cloud architecture diagram) and now I just ask Gemini and it's fine 95% of the time. The key is to find how to navigate a world when AI-assisted technology is all around.
@89th said in The impact of AI on jobs:
@mark said in The impact of AI on jobs:
My daughter is a little upset that I used AI to create the splash screen. She's an artist who is a current student at the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. She is going for her BA. I told her to design a new splash screen and I will happily replace the one AI generated.
What an impacted industry. I started out in graphic design, logos, websites, etc. My BIL used to design custom images for screenprinted shirts. He was telling me the other week that these days people can just ask AI for whatever image they want and it automatically can be ordered on a shirt. Even for me, I used to create custom graphics (such as for a website or presentation or even an cloud architecture diagram) and now I just ask Gemini and it's fine 95% of the time. The key is to find how to navigate a world when AI-assisted technology is all around.
Absolutely. Do something with AI instead of just bitching about it. Find a niche within the AI universe to make a living.
-
OK, I admit I've just written a performance review, which is just about my least favourite activity in the world. When I say 'written', I copied last year's review and told Copilot to reword it.
Easy life.
