In addition to serving the personal and spiritual journey of humanity, and leading a blockchain project, I also advise venture capital firms on the technical feasibility of their potential investments. I need to tell you what I see. I have been amazed and obsessing over the progress in the worlds of AI and Robotics. The combination of AI and automation alone offers mind-blowing potential and as it all comes together, a very different future than what we know now. I don’t think that people understand how quickly it is coming.
Let me give you an idea. Within just the next 1-3 years you will see AI-powered robots in your neighborhood: walking your dogs, doing yard work, fixing your car, cleaning your house, etc. It will start with AI-robotics replacing the most dangerous jobs such as oil-rig workers and mining as well as manufacturing and supply chain jobs like warehousing and fulfillment. That will be next year.
Within 3 years, they will replace domestic jobs like the ones I mentioned above. The idea of a robot in every house will seem less sci-fi and more status symbol at first. By 2027, a mere three years from now, it will seem totally normal to see one in every house you visit. The conversations will be around which modules your robot has. You might feel jealous when your neighbor gets the oil-change module or the plumbing module for his robot. You might be renting out your robot to your neighbor who doesn’t have the AC-repair module yet or you might just barter and have his robot come over and do some landscaping in return.
Meanwhile, AI-driven software will start to replace entire software development agencies, marketing agencies, virtual assistants, customer service and sales teams in the next 2 years. Spoiler: you are already interacting with AI customer service and deep-fake videos online and you don’t even know it.
The full potential of the convergence of AI, process automation software, affordable humanoid robotics and self-driving cars and trucks of all sizes, will be fully felt in just 5-6 years and possibly sooner. That looks like the automation of anything and everything that requires manual labor, expertise of any kind, consultation, development, construction, design and nearly everything else. If you are worried about your job being taken by AI and robotics, you should be. There will be very few jobs that it will not be able to do as well if not better, do the job 24/7, and at a fraction of the price. This is coming and it is coming fast.
So I have been thinking. If you know it is coming (and now you do), what will you do NOW to ensure your income and your relevance in the years to come?
High-priced white collar jobs like doctors, lawyers, accountants, wealth managers, and personal coaches are about to be replaced with your own personal apps that do all the same things. Blue-collar jobs like truck drivers, warehouse workers, landscapers, construction workers, taxi and uber drivers are about to be replaced too.
What will left for humans to do? Here are the NEW jobs I see people taking up over the next decade: AI and Robotics training and maintenance, and process design and optimization.
Meanwhile, AI and robotics are NOT on track to master the art of big ideas, the subtle sciences like Reiki and other forms of intuitive energy work, consciousness work, and real human connection. Any job that requires truly revolutionary thinking, or real human connection will be a good job to have. That will include working with very young children (I think we are way way off from parents trusting a robot with their infants), education design, energy work, entrepreneurship, and assisting the dying.
So it would be smart to think now about what you want your life to look like in five years. What will your job be in these AI-dominated times ahead? How can you start getting ready NOW for what lies ahead in the very near future?
