Your username checks out!

That said, is it that much different from the past twenty years, when everyone was being told to follow their passion and get a useless $200,000 communication or literature degree to then go work at Starbucks? At least kids growing up with AI will have a chance to make its use second nature like many of us did with computers 20-30 years ago.

The kids with poor parental/counselor guidance will walk into reality face first, the ones with helicopter parents will overcorrect when free, the studious ones will mostly figure life out, the smart ones will get disillusioned fast, and the kids with trust funds just kept doing their thing. I don't think much will change.

I do think it is much different from the past twenty years. Twenty years ago we didn't have ChatGPT. There are things we could compare it to, but there also isn't anything like it.

My biggest fear is just a lack of jobs.

When people need experience to work, and the work you give to people to give them experience is replaced by ChatGPT - then what do we do?

Of course there will still be companies hiring people, but when leadership is telling people to save money - it seems much cheaper to use ChatGPT that it is to train someone.

Why hire a kid that has been using AI, when the AI can just do the work? Or if a kid that has been using AI can do the work of 20 people, what happens to the 19 people that can't find work? Will we be in a place where we need 20 people doing the work of 20 people each? Is that need actually there?

I do very much appreciate your view. I feel like I waffle back and forth between what I'm saying here and your comment.

I apologize for coming across doomer-ish. It is sometimes hard for me to imagine a future for kids growing up with ChatGPT.

The only way there will be no jobs is if every conceivable human need is met by robots. In which case there will also be no need to work.

I understand that. The fear I'm describing isn't no jobs, but less jobs than there are people.

There's multiple ways to address this, but it's difficult for me to imagine a future with our current economic system (in the US) that allows that to happen (like UBI).

Your username doesn't, too bad.

I'm in my mid 30s and even I have some amount of apathy for the remainder of my career. I feel pretty confident my software and product experience is going to be not-so-useful in 15 years as it is today.

Same, I'm already pivoting into other areas.