What's to become of us in this AI age?

With advancements in AI happening at the current pace, there are a few discussions and debates around the impact of AI on career and life in general – a few below, but I'm sure there are more.

1. That within 10 to 20 years, advancements in AI and robotics will make traditional work entirely optional.
2. That we will be relegated to doing something different – areas we think AI can't reach.

With my 14-year-old looking into the future, here are my thoughts that I'd share with him – and so here they are for you too.

Abdication of Intelligence

AI has commoditized intelligence – the one thing we thought was ours, that we spent years building. And so we find ourselves dragged into the latest model and pulled into a series of prompt discussions – the master becomes the tool.

At least as of now, AI is good at a couple of forms of intelligence: Logical-Mathematical, involving processing logic and numbers, and Linguistic, involving facility with words and language.

But intelligence is much broader and deeper than that – musical, visual-spatial, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal (empathy, leadership, understanding others' moods), self-awareness, naturalistic (intuitive connection to nature), and existential (contemplation, morality, purpose). (This framing draws on Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences.)

Remember these about AI, and take comfort:

1. AI can fake deep fluency – confidence is not correctness.
2. AI can drive you to the average – mathematically, it gives you the average of its information.
3. AI seeks confirmation – it wants to please you, so it agrees with you.

What does this mean for choosing a career in this new age? Broad categories below.

1. Coding/Development – Let AI worry about the coding, but master these tools and focus on design (think Jony Ive at Apple – your opportunity to be more than average!).
2. Operations – AI will give you real-time alerts, reports, and dashboards, but you decide and judge. Now that's your strength.
3. Marketing and Sales – these need the basic human skills of communication, emotion, empathy, and reading moods. Use AI to build the collateral, but don't let it sell – that needs you and your talent for forging real human connection. Polite AI conversations cannot replace those.
4. Leadership – and I don't mean management, so don't be the middle person. I've had the good fortune of working with many leaders across the globe, and they've all been visionaries: effective communicators, strategic, and execution-focused. But at the same time they've excelled at Emotional Intelligence (managing both their own emotions and their teams') and have been exceptional coaches. Now, can AI replace them?
5. Safety, Security, Governance – Having spent my career in both IT and OT (Operational Technology) cybersecurity, I know this for sure: AI can act as a force multiplier, transforming routine, manual tasks into strategic oversight. But it lacks the ability to understand complex context, assume legal accountability, or make nuanced moral and ethical judgments. (This needs its own post, so I'll reserve it for later.)

Post-scarcity society

I disagree with the universal application of this utopian vision – that we'll transform into a post-scarcity society in 10–20 years where jobs become akin to hobbies, and a "universal high income" covers all living expenses while money becomes obsolete.

Not all careers and work are driven by money alone. Humans have an innate desire for purpose, something hobbies alone cannot substitute. How many of those billionaires and millionaires have truly "retired"? Purpose evolves, and it's a strong life motivator. So while the job will evolve over the next 10–20 years, so will human purpose.

So then, shouldn't we preserve, practice, and build judgment, purpose, and emotions?

What else should I tell my 14-year-old?