The Disruption of People

A recent UN report confirms that AI will disrupt 40% of global employment, with knowledge-intensive sectors most exposed.

But here's what no one's talking about: what happens to the PEOPLE being disrupted? What do they do?

Denis Hassabis (Google DeepMind CEO) is asked regularly by students “what should I study?” (to be future-proof). Albeit no-one can predict the future, he helpfully says almost every time (along with some generics about ‘meta-skills’) that the only thing we can predict is change.

This is beyond unhelpful. If I heard that advice at 16 years old I’d probably just go back and play Xbox all day because what’s the point?

Change is and has been inevitable forever - but the question in the past has always had some degree of certainty that people would be needed to do something, somewhere, always. Thanks to AI, the issue is that very existence of people in the workplace are generally under threat across everything, everywhere.

And there is a second dimension - those who are well established in their career with no real plans to pivot.

Let’s consider a real-world scenario for someone already working.

You work in admin at a law firm. Suddenly, AI takes your job. No problem, you think – I'll find another admin role elsewhere.

But here's the reality: ALL the admin roles are disappearing. So you look to adjacent industries. Same story there.

Now what? You decide to level up. You understand law to some degree and have always wanted to be a paralegal. So you invest time and money in training. A few months in, AI starts taking those roles too.

Fine, you think – I'll go all the way and qualify as a lawyer. Halfway through that expensive, time-consuming journey, you realise AI is coming for lawyers too (sorry Mark Hill!).

This cascade of disruption is happening pre-education, mid-education and across every industry. It’s going to get worse and nobody's talking about the end game: millions of people will have no choice but to become entrepreneurs in some form.

This transition might be manageable if you're young and energised and adaptable to shifting sands under your feet. But what about those in their 40s, 50s, or 60s? People who've spent decades mastering skills that are suddenly devalued, who now face not just learning new skills but adopting an entirely different mindset and navigating unfamiliar technologies.

The traditional career ladder isn't just missing a few rungs – it's being dismantled entirely.

This is why our new venture is so critically important. Because the question isn't whether AI will force more people into entrepreneurship – it's whether we'll have the systems in place to help them succeed when it happens.

The alternative – a world where only a privileged few can easily navigate this transition – isn't just unfair. It's unsustainable.

[Source: https://lnkd.in/djd6k4m9]