Adjust to AI like Jack Bogle
Jack Bogle famously said "Don't just do something, stand there!"
Bogle was talking about your investment portfolio. When you're nervous because of the latest news about the economy, politics, or whatever, your first instinct is to take action. It doesn't matter what action you take. Doing nothing feels wrong. You have to do something, anything.
And taking action is exactly what you shouldn't do in response to feelings. You're only going to change things for the better if both of these are true:
- You're doing something wrong.
- You're able to make better decisions because you're worried about the future.
You're going to respond to a market correction by moving your portfolio to cash because that feels safe. The market will recover and you'll miss out on it.
Bogle's advice is also reasonable as a response to concerns about AI. Is generative AI a risk for workers? Absolutely.
Worrying about the future is not sufficient for you to take action. The best response for most of us is to continue to operate as we have. Get up in the morning, do your job for eight hours, and then go home to have dinner with your family.
Generative AI is just technology. Understand it. Find ways to use it to make yourself more productive. But don't live in fear of what might happen (you were at risk of losing your job before, even if you didn't think about it). Don't change professions because you think the new one is AI-proof. Don't waste hours of your time doing things that don't have an obvious benefit.
Spend your energy making yourself a better employee right now and more desirable to potential employers. Keep building your human capital like you always have. You're changing your toolbox, as with any relevant technology, but drastic career changes are a red flag. Another red flag is an overly pessimistic outlook. Yet another is thinking the world will be substantially different in a year. The world doesn't change that fast, because once companies start using technology, they discover its shortcomings.
Another reason to avoid doing anything dramatic is because the doom-and-gloom scenarios may not (IMO probably will not) come true. Jeff Bezos might be right. AI might cause a labor shortage. Focus on today and be ready to adjust when the time comes.