Corporations have already begun to scale down human roles in favour of AI agents; even small businesses like takeaways, garages and hairdressers have employed AI answering services to take calls and book appointments.
Estate agencies that used to hire photographers to take pictures of every room of a house to showcase them in the best possible light can now take any old photo and have AI 'clean it up'.
Content creators who used to have teams of 5 to 10 people now have a highly trained virtual assistant trained on the latest techniques needed to reach the broadest number of viewers or customers possible.
For years, we have witnessed the 'computerisation' of checkouts, reducing the number of human staff we see when doing our weekly shop.
When going into any of the big burger chains, giant self-serve screens take our order.
Many government agencies now use AI answering services trained on every FAQ that is likely to come up, passing you to a human only when something truly out of the ordinary is being asked.
My point is that even before the AI 'threat', humans were being reduced from many interactions to maximise profits, even if it increased friction in the short term.
If I were a business owner employing staff who take sick days, holidays, maternity leave, lunch breaks, and chase frivolous legal claims or leave for better pay and conditions... I guess I would at least be open to the idea of a human-free team that has none of those headaches built in.
What happens down the line, though?
When millions have their roles erased overnight?
Most people ask the financial question: when your job disappears, so does your salary, right?
There is a potentially more destructive scenario, though.
What happens when huge numbers of people have no job? Where do they derive purpose, meaning and a feeling of self-worth?
I know people will say, " Your job should not be the place where you find meaning in your life". Look around, though; vast swathes of the population are in that exact boat.
Back to the monetary concerns, though, what do we do when so many people have no wage coming into the home?
That really could be a recipe for societal destabilisation. Look at the rioting, looting and protests taking place throughout France right now. Fast forward 12 to 18 months, when AI job replacement really starts to kick in at scale... People with grievances, trapped in poverty with a lot of anger and time on their hands- well, that is a volatile cocktail; I am sure you will agree.
Many have their heads buried nice and cosy in the sand right now, in utter denial at what is hurtling down the track.
That is not a strategy likely to yield many positive results, right?
Others don't believe this to be a feasible vision of the near-future workplace restructuring.
Only because they cannot envisage it.
There have been many instances like this over the last few generations, from the Industrial Revolution, which smashed the cottage industry economic model. In the UK, when almost all of the mines closed in the last couple of decades before the millennium, entire communities were gutted overnight.
They didn't believe it could happen, but it did.
Not so many years ago, teams of people took up entire floors of buildings with the sole job of entering data to ascertain mathematical outcomes and results. What do you think inventions like the calculator and the personal computer did to that role?
Remember when you used to queue for one of the many, many counters at your local bank? The bank teller, (whom you likely knew) would write your deposits and withdrawals by hand. Calculating interest each time they finished. In the UK today, if you walk into a high street bank branch, security stops you to ask why you are visiting; it is completely alien to me.
Many believe that a Universal Basic Income is the model that will replace most 'menial roles', I imagine it really will be basic!
What will that do to the average level of wealth?
Elon thinks a Universal Basic Income could be the model, admitting he would be happy to forego a huge portion of his wealth to make this a reality and thinks other global corporations making massive profits should have the same outlook too.
This could inspire a global renaissance of people following their true creative passion. In truth, we all know most people would not be interested in any such thing. Where would they find meaning and purpose then?
I see the same worries I outlined earlier; people need a reason to get up in the morning, even if they think they would be just fine with nothing to do all day:
"The devil makes work for idle hands..."
What would the young aspire to without a reason to be in this brave new world?
There are huge drawbacks and benefits if we look at the landscape ahead objectively and with an open mind.
So back to the question I entered with.
Have you considered what you will do? Have you considered a plan for your life?
Is there something you have always wanted to pursue but feel like you never had the time?
Could AI help you research, plan and trial it? Why wait?
I am trying my hand at several things to try and bed myself into the new economy; I will likely detail everything I am trying here in the coming months.
There is doubtless going to be a huge period of upheaval in the next few years; whether we like it or not is immaterial; it will trundle onward all the same.
It doesn't feel long since people could first afford to have an actual computer in their home.
I remember the concept of a phone that makes calls anywhere that fits in your pocket rather than plug in to a socket in the wall.
In no time at all, those phones became pocket computers almost everyone on the planet owns.
A short while ago, we saw Elon Musk create a rocket that can be caught and reused when it returns to Earth.
We recently saw the first proper, working, flying car.
Soon, Optimus robots will be in most homes (regardless of how many people say they won't have one)
In my life, I am stunned at how fast technology is moving. Some days my 54 years feel like centuries of invention. I have no clue what the world will look like if I live to 70, 80 or 90...
I hope that vast numbers of people are questioning what they could achieve in lieu of the workaday existence we were all brought up with. This would be infinitely preferable to being swept along by circumstance, feeling no sense of control over life.
Fear of change, of the unknown, does not serve us. I believe we need to meet this potential future head-on and take control in whatever way we are able.
As long as we have a unique human brain, there is certainly no need for us to become obsolete.