Automated, Augmented Or Unemployed? The Myths Of AI

Here’s another thread about AI that I probably shouldn’t have pulled at because now it’s unraveling everything… 

I used to frame AI like many do: as “rocket fuel” or a “co-pilot.” 
Like we’re launching into a utopia of limitless personal productivity.
I no longer believe that.

That framing isn’t just wrong… it’s dangerous.

Yes, AI can help us move faster. 
But the real story is what happens after liftoff.

AI is already replacing jobs. 

First in knowledge and service-based work. 
Next in physical labor, as robotics get cheaper and more precise.
Not because it’s malicious.
Because it’s efficient.
That’s what technology has always done… from fire, to the printing press, to the spreadsheet.

But with all that efficiency, here’s the paradox:

Are we working less?
Are we more productive?
Or just doing more with tools that demand more from us?

If tech keeps getting better at doing what humans do… why are we busier than ever?

The memos from Shopify and Fiverr’s CEOs isn’t fear-mongering… it’s realism. 
They’re naming a hard truth: 
Roles built on repetition or pattern recognition are disappearing. 
Yes, innovation will follow. 
New jobs will emerge. 

But many will require fewer humans.

That’s the part we don’t like to talk about: 
The companies with trillion-dollar market caps scaled with far fewer people than the industrial giants that came before them.

AI will multiply that effect.

Even advanced degrees, expertise, credentials… they’re starting to feel like taxi medallions after Uber ubered.
This isn’t just about expanding capabilities.
It’s about redistributing power.

So the real question is:

Who gets augmented?
And who gets automated?
Visionary leaders aren’t the ones shouting “everyone wins!”
They’re preparing for a messy, ethically complex, uneven future… where a few soar, and many fall behind… unless we build new scaffolding now.

Yes, AI can be a jetpack.

But today’s “co-pilot” won’t stay in the passenger seat for long.

That’s what keeps me up at night.

If I spend a year feeding AI my thinking – writing, voice, interviews – when does it just do the job better than me?
In my voice.
With my depth.
Plus every other writer’s insights… plus optimized for every platform’s algorithmic whim.
Most AI optimism assumes stasis… that it’ll stay passive, helpful, second-chair.
But that’s not what’s happening.

These systems are getting agentic.

They act.
They decide.
They initiate.
The optimize.
They improve.

So what then?

If AI can do your job with you today, what makes you so sure it won’t do it without you tomorrow?
This isn’t just extended capability.
It’s exponential independence.
And that changes everything: labor, value, trust, control.

This isn’t dystopian.

This is what responsible leadership sounds like.
Less hype… more hard thinking.
So yes… maybe AI is rocket fuel.
But if we’re not careful, we’ll wake up and realize:

We weren’t the ones in the cockpit.

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