How AI is transforming the future of work and what skills you need to thrive

Hello there, Jordan here 👋

Will AI replace us?

As a kid, my dream was to play video games all day.

As a real, responsible adult . . . my goal is kind of the same.

This is how a typical problem-solving process goes:

1. Understand the problem.

2. Analyze different solutions.

3. Experiment or talk to an expert to the best solution.

4. Learn about the context in which this problem occurs.

5. Find the best solution. ← I’m great at getting to this part.

6. Fix the problem by using the best solution for the context.

I like the analytical part, but not the grindy, boring part.

Can you relate?

But then I found out about AI.

AI was everything I ever wanted – the solution to all of my problems. But it wasn’t that useful yet. In fact, it seemed like it will take decades to replace the boring bits of my day-to-day work.

But I was wrong.

It only took 7 years.

🦾 Enter Augmented Intelligence

“But Jordan, you’re a software engineer, tell me if AI is going to replace me?”

Sure.

AI learns faster than humans. It will eventually become better than all humans (combined).

In a vacuum, that is.

We’re a great species because we adapt to anything. We’ll adapt to AI as well.

• Learning to use it.

• Making its’ use easier.

• Making it a part of ourselves.

Once we’re at the stage of putting chips in our heads, there’s no telling how fast we’ll adapt.

But doing that effectively is in the future (my guess is decades).

Let’s focus on the now.

What is augmented intelligence?

It’s kind of like in the Avengers when everyone hated everyone else but eventually ended up working together to defeat Loki and get the Tesseract.

You’re joining forces with AI to defeat the enemy. And the enemy’s name?

Boring work.

AI will get rid of that. And yes, you can define your own ‘boring work’ and give that part to AI.

Example:

I typically need about 2 hours of staring at a blank page to get from nothing to:

• A title

• A subtitle

• A neat list of bullets

For any single newsletter I write.

Having that structure, I finish the whole thing in less than 1 hour.

But I used ChatGPT4 to draft the bullets for this thread, and it saved me 2 hours of writing.
Note: ChatGPT4 is insane.

Basically:

AI effectively replaced me. To be more specific, it replaced me for 2 hours of my time.

Now, let’s be conservative about it.

Let’s say AI will replace me for 2 hours a day. I’ll have, effectively, 26 hours in my average day.

Doesn’t sound like much, right?

But it equals about 6 extra years of life.

6 extra years to spend with friends, family, games, or pushing further than anyone before you.

6 years that you didn’t spend:

• Doing boring work

• Learning using outdated articles

• Looking for a solution to a new problem

Let’s take a moment to appreciate how awesome that is.

Your biggest fan,
Jordan

PS:

💡 Idea of the Week

⚙️ Tools, Apps, 'n' Gadgets

Here are todAI's picks:

• Peech AI — Automated video editing (I’m playing with this one today)

• NameLix — Find the name and aesthetic for your business in a click

• Brandmark — Create a surprisingly good logo for your business in a click

🔦 Creator Spotlight

I enjoyed Jay’s work this week – the guy is already amazing progress at building a community and products at an age I was figuring out how to even talk to people.

📰 Last Week with Jordan

This exploded this week, but here it is here in case you missed it 👇

That was it for today. Have a great week and I'll see you next Sunday!

— Jordan

PS: Help me out by sharing this with a friend who'll find it useful 🫶