HOW TO “AI-PROOF” YOUR CAREER- THAT ONE KEY SKILL YOU NEED

By next year (2025), more than 90% of all written online content will be AI generated .

If you work as a journalist, online writer, PR exec or editor, this is a cause for concern as AI can now perform your job and possibly do it better than you. AI’s ability to capitalize on training data to generate content with perfect sentences, no spelling errors and better structure makes is it a force for generating content.

Online content is not the only industry cannibalized by AI, industries such as Banking & Finance, Hospitality, Computer Engineering, Insurance and Healthcare has already been affected by AI to refine their process and take out weak human errors, making their processes much efficient.

Fully capable? AI enabled trading software is being deployed to replace human trading activities at bulge bracket banks whiles AI does a better job at assigning life insurance premiums to a customer based on their health and credit history at multiple efficient speeds

BlackRock, the world’s biggest fund company, has reduced its reliance on human stock pickers by relying more on self-learning AI computer code in its exchange-traded funds business. JPMorgan?uses machine learning applications?in some of its buy-side trading strategies to better cope with market volatility. (Forbes 2023)

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CHATGPT already generates usable computer code in seconds which will probably have taken an engineer hours to write.

I personally dream of my personal AI powered robot barber giving me a haircut, so I don’t wait in queue at a barbershop ever.

If AI will take 90% of our jobs, then how can we ensure we are part of the 10% who are well placed to do things AI cant?

CREATIVITY

AI can’t tell deep emotional stories, stories that touch the heart and soul. AI can’t build or bond and draw inferences with human emotions. Every technology we enjoy today is a result of human creativity.

Steve Jobs Creativity: Combine a music player, camera, phone = iPhone

Reid Hoffman: Create an online space for professionals to connect, do business and share ideas = LinkedIn

Elon Musk: Deploy satellites orbiting closer to Earth, at about 550km to provide internet = Starlink

Use mobile numbers as a bank account to assist with micro payments = Mobile Money

Multi-million dollar businesses arise due to human creativity

Why creativity

Because AI is intelligent but not creative. AI’s creativity is hinged on human creativity and looks for the clear and obvious. An easy way of testing AI’s creativity is by administering the divergence test.

I put AI to the divergent test as stated in Malcom Gladwell’s book Outliers, where students were asked to write the use of a blanket. The purpose of this test is to ascertain if the students would come up with unique uses besides the obvious everyday uses. The students wrote creative, funny and terrifying answers

I put ChatGPT to the test

My Prompt: list 5 creative use of a blanket

ChatGPT Response:

Here are five creative uses of a blanket:

1. Fort Building: Use blankets to create cozy indoor forts by draping them over chairs, tables, or couches, perfect for a fun and relaxing space for kids or adults.
2. Picnic Mat: Spread a blanket on the ground to create an impromptu picnic area at the park or beach.
3. Room Divider: Hang a large blanket between spaces in a room to create a temporary divider for privacy or to section off different areas.
4. Soundproofing: Use blankets to dampen sound by hanging them on walls or doors, reducing noise levels for recording, study spaces, or home offices.
5. Emergency Sling: In case of injury, a blanket can be repurposed into an emergency sling or wrap for support while waiting for medical help.

Ends

A British high school student called Poole was asked the same question. Below are his responses

Poole's Answers

1.???? To use on a bed

2.???? As a cover for illicit sex in the woods

3.???? As a tent

4.???? To make smoke signals with

5.???? As a sail for a boat, cart or sled

6.???? As a substitute for a towel

7.???? As a target for shooting practice for short-sighted people

8.???? As a thing to catch people jumping out of burning skyscrapers?

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Poole’s answers are funny and original

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Which of these answers do you think is better suited to do the kind of imaginative work that creates extra value?

Conclusion

AI has already taken the mundane tasks, in an efficient and fast paced world where humans are replaced with efficient systems. Where humans will shine is the area of creativity