It seems on a near-daily basis I hear people say that AI is coming to take all of our jobs. I don’t call myself a “futurist,” but I’m old enough to have heard this tale before, associated with the birth of the personal computer in the late 1980s.

Let’s start with a story about my dad…

In the early 1990s, my dad’s law firm introduced computers, doing away with the electric typewriters that secretaries had used for years before. My dad, in his 50s at the time, decided that he didn’t need one. He had his own secretary and they worked out a “system.”

My dad’s secretary would receive all of his email on her computer and print out each one. He would write his response on the paper, his secretary would then enter what he wrote as the email reply into the computer and then, file the printed paper in a file cabinet, in the folder in which it belonged.

Well, this worked for about five years until his law firm mandated that every attorney had to use a PC and his secretary would now be shared with four other people besides him. Now, the “system” was no longer practical.

My dad reluctantly agreed to attend computer training classes and surprisingly enjoyed what he was learning. He even bought a PC for the house after a few months, so that he could take work home (and tied up the phone line each night connecting to his office with it, making my mom really mad, but that’s a whole other story!) Fast forward to today, at 91, he’s an ace on a Microsoft Surface and rarely reaches out to me for help.

So, I’m at about my dad’s age when PCs were introduced to his office. However, my approach is much different than his and I am not at all concerned about my job as I’m embracing AI from the start.

My futurist opinion: AI may take some jobs. However, the first jobs it’s going to consume are held by those that don’t embrace AI as a productivity tool. Those folks will be left behind. Now is the time to get up to speed.

Speaking personally, I regularly use AI daily to help me complete administrative tasks like formatting slide decks, summarizing data and quick research. At Service Management World, I took a pre-conference class on AI and enjoyed learning about five different Large Language Models, each one a specialist in different areas. I’ve taken time since the class to experiment with each trying to learn how I can better use them in my everyday life.

Those who did not embrace the PC back then found themselves “technologically obsolete.” Those who do not embrace AI now will be in the same “obsolete” position. New jobs are springing up rapidly supporting the evolving technology, which will create new opportunities for those who embrace it. My advice? Be one of those people!