AI and the Future of Work: Artificial Intelligence in the Workplace, Business, Ethics, HR, and IT for AI Enthusiasts, Leaders and Academics
00:42:38 · Rahul Vohra, Dan Turchin
[00:42:38] S0: I think more people need to understand it. So so thank you for the the soapbox. [00:42:41] S1: Very well done. Very well done. You know, unbelievably, we're about out of time. I told you I'd get you out of here efficiently. But you're not going anywhere without answering one last important question for me. We're talking about AI and humanity and beyond email, beyond the inbox. One of the things I'd love to know from you is when Rahul and Dan are back here in a decade, it's 2036, and we're having a version of this conversation, what's one thing that you believe will be commonplace then that most people would disagree with sitting where we are today in 2026? [00:43:20] S0: Okay. To make sure I understand the question, what what will be... What do I think will be commonplace in ten years that most people would disagree with now? [00:43:27] S1: Yeah. Something contrarian Trarian. About what you think will be commonplace in 2036.
00:43:27 · Dan Turchin, Rahul Vohra
[00:43:27] S1: Yeah. Something contrarian Trarian. About what you think will be commonplace in 2036. [00:43:32] S0: Oh, boy. That's a really tough one. I think by definition, we are ill equipped to... Not by definition, but, like, it it... It's well observed that we are ill equipped to predict on the ten year time scale as opposed to the one or the two year time scale. I don't know. I think I just gave you a speech that is is basically so super hard to predict. Right? Like the, I I... Okay. Here's what I can predict. I think in many ways, the world that we will be living in will be unrecognizable compared to now for the better. That maybe I sound like a a techno optimist or or I I I sound almost utopian when I say that. But I I really do believe it, that, from advances in drug discovery through biotechnology, through productivity, to every aspect of knowledge work that you can imagine, to manufacturing and industrialization, the supply chain, food, drink, like, it... It's just all going to get so much better over a ten year period in a way that we can't imagine. That's... Maybe that's not contrarian. Maybe that's obvious. But that's certainly something I believe is true.
00:43:32 · Rahul Vohra, Dan Turchin
[00:43:32] S0: Oh, boy. That's a really tough one. I think by definition, we are ill equipped to... Not by definition, but, like, it it... It's well observed that we are ill equipped to predict on the ten year time scale as opposed to the one or the two year time scale. I don't know. I think I just gave you a speech that is is basically so super hard to predict. Right? Like the, I I... Okay. Here's what I can predict. I think in many ways, the world that we will be living in will be unrecognizable compared to now for the better. That maybe I sound like a a techno optimist or or I I I sound almost utopian when I say that. But I I really do believe it, that, from advances in drug discovery through biotechnology, through productivity, to every aspect of knowledge work that you can imagine, to manufacturing and industrialization, the supply chain, food, drink, like, it... It's just all going to get so much better over a ten year period in a way that we can't imagine. That's... Maybe that's not contrarian. Maybe that's obvious. But that's certainly something I believe is true. [00:44:57] S1: Where we sit today, it's still unsettling for all of the humans who thought that they nailed the right career in their, you know, maybe mid career or even more so early career. And right now, AI feels like a very destabilizing force. And they can hear you and I talk and be, you know, optimists about the future, and yet it's scary because it requires an investment in skills that we don't know what they are yet and industries that we don't know what they look like or they don't have a
00:44:57 · Dan Turchin, Rahul Vohra
[00:44:57] S1: Where we sit today, it's still unsettling for all of the humans who thought that they nailed the right career in their, you know, maybe mid career or even more so early career. And right now, AI feels like a very destabilizing force. And they can hear you and I talk and be, you know, optimists about the future, and yet it's scary because it requires an investment in skills that we don't know what they are yet and industries that we don't know what they look like or they don't have a [00:45:27] S0: name [00:45:27] S1: yet. What... What's your message to everyone who says, yeah. But, you know, here I am today, and I don't know what I'm gonna be doing between now and ten years. You're asking me to, you know, kind of just take a leap of faith. How do you how do you have those conversations, which I'm sure you have frequently?
00:45:46 · Rahul Vohra
[00:45:46] S0: Yeah. I mean, I I would start by saying I I have a lot of empathy. I I feel that same fear. I'm I'm 42 years old, and I I thought I'd assembled a formidable set of skills, some of which will continue to be relevant going forwards, many of which won't be. And, like, I I can rail against that all I want, but, like, it it just doesn't change the the march of progress. What I will say is I think a lot of the fear is is people amplifying each other's fear. I'm gonna I'm gonna avoid my my social media rant and and social media does that. And and, like, just try and ground us in numbers. So for example, the the share of US jobs that are software engineering jobs, That's actually up 40% year over year. We we went from 1.6% of US jobs that are software engineering to 2.2%. That's huge. And it's very counter narrative. Right? That's counter to AI is taking all the engineering jobs. That's not true. So I think what I would say is where possible, let's ground ourselves in the data. Let's actually look at what's happening to the overall... Let let... Let's look at the overall shifts and then see how we fit in. On the flip side of that, though, we... All of us, me, you, everybody listening, everyone in the future, we all need to stay connected to what's happening. And, you know, in some ways, it's it's the great equalizer. AI doesn't care how how old we are or or how, I think you used the word invested, we we are. It's gonna make everything easier and faster. So it's really down to our personal agency. What do we do with that? And I think the the right thing to figure out how to do... Well, be... Before I say the right thing to figure out how to do, let let me let me paint an analogy that hopefully makes this sound obvious. Would you hire someone who didn't know how to use Google? Would you hire someone who didn't have the requisite level of proficiency with... And it obviously depends on the job. Right? The the Word or Google Docs or Excel or whatever. And you don't need all of these things for every role, but I I I picked a very low bar because it would be unthinkable to hire someone who did not know how to use a web search engine today. But that wasn't always the case. And there was a time where people had exactly the same concern. And, of course, what what was the the answer?
00:48:29 · Rahul Vohra, Dan Turchin
Well, the answer was to get on the Internet and to get on the web and to figure out how it works and to become digitally native. Exactly the same answer applies today. The answer is to become AI native, and that would be my encouragement to everyone, noting it is scary, and I have a ton of empathy. I'm scared as well, but that [00:48:52] S1: is the answer. Brilliant. That's helpful. And you have an open invitation. Come back. We... I think we got to zero of the topics that we had scheduled. So thank you for for for letting us go off script. But please come back, and let's continue the conversation. This is really, really impactful. Great. [00:49:11] S0: Yeah. Yeah. I'd be excited too. We've got so many cool product announcements coming that we we didn't get to, but maybe that's a good thing because we can have a a subsequent conversation about two. In the parts two. Yeah. Let's do a part two. [00:49:23] S1: So for the... Maybe one listener in this audience that somehow managed to not yet follow you on socials, where where can we learn more about you online? [00:49:33] S0: Great. I am on Twitter and LinkedIn, and you can follow me at my first name and my last name. That's r a h u l v o h r a. My DMs are open, so just ping me. I pay more attention to Twitter than I do LinkedIn, so ping me over there if you want to. And thank you for having me. This has been so fun.