AI IS COMING FOR THE JOB MARKET. GOOD. BECOME MORE HUMAN.

When the Munchkins Turn on the Wizard of Oz…

At a recent graduation ceremony at the University of Arizona, former Google CEO Eric Schmidt began talking about artificial intelligence and the future of work. He came across as a beleaguered, albeit overconfident, Wizard of Oz pulling cranks and levers towards a future none of us were asking for and asked whether we wanted. 

What sucks is that even though he was extremely socially unaware and condescending, he is not wrong. AI is coming and it is dynamically shifting the job market, and making new hire positions especially, obsolete. 

It did not go well.

The students booed him. Loudly. It was super funny. It was also an iconic cultural moment right in front of our eyes. 

What was worse, as the graduating munchkins turned on him, he made the choice to double down. It was so unbelievably cringe… and yet, none of us could look away. Because this is our slow-train-wreck-not-in-kansas-anymore-reality now.

Source: Business Insider coverage of students booing Eric Schmidt during his AI comments at the University of Arizona graduation
Additional coverage: The Verge reporting on the Arizona commencement backlash against AI rhetoric

And honestly?

I get it. I get why the kids are angry. I also get why corporations see the potential of AI, and not just for productivity, but for massive innovation and potential human thriving. It is too fast and at the same time, seems to be inevitable. And so Schmidt was not wrong. Just insensitive. Insensitive and stupid.

I mean imagine (this won’t be hard).

Imagine spending four years grinding through college, taking on debt, trying to claw your way into adulthood—only to hear billionaire tech executives who grew up watching too much Star Trek in their space jammies tell you that the very jobs you trained for may disappear into the cloud. Vector is supposed to be a cartoon supervillain. 

And here is the thing: There’s fear underneath the boos.

Fear that the ladder is moving.
Fear that the rules changed overnight.
Fear that the future belongs to machines instead of people.

And yet…

I think most people are asking the wrong question.

The question is not:
“Will AI change the job market?”

It already is.

The real question is:
What becomes more valuable in a world where intelligence is cheap?

Because that’s what AI is doing. It is rapidly making information, analysis, organization, drafting, coding, and pattern recognition more abundant than ever before.

And history tells us something important: Whenever a resource becomes abundant, something else becomes scarce.

And scarce things become valuable.

The Doctor Is No Longer the Smartest Person in the Room.

Former OpenAI executive Zack Kass has become one of the more interesting voices talking about this shift. I have been following his perspective because I think he is a reasonable voice about what to expect and how to re-tool for the employment of the future.

Kass does not blindly worship AI.
Rather, he understands what AI actually changes.

Kass often talks about the rise of ambient intelligence—AI systems quietly woven into everyday life through logistics, recommendations, automation, analytics, healthcare systems, and infrastructure. 

Source: Zack Kass interview on ambient intelligence and the future of AI

Just think about that phrase: ambient intelligence. Not robots marching down the street.

Invisible systems quietly running underneath everything:
your lighting,
your security,
your fridge,
your scheduling,
your workflow,
your analytics,
your healthcare.

So instead of a robot walking around your flat and cooking your dinner and folding your laundry, think about systems doing the things no human should ever by rights have to do or be perfect enough to do well.

The future won’t always look dramatic. Much of it will feel like electricity: always running quietly in the background.

Kass also tells a profound story about his father, an oncologist.

A patient had received nearly identical treatment recommendations from multiple doctors because AI-assisted medical systems had already made the science extraordinarily precise. And yet she still chose Kass’ father. Why?

Not because he alone possessed the information. But because of how he made her feel. Kass summarized the lesson this way: “The bedside manner wasn't a feature, it was the product.”

Source: Coalition interview featuring Zack Kass discussing bedside manner as the new product in an AI world
Additional discussion: LinkedIn discussion unpacking Zack Kass’ statement on bedside manner and AI

That line is profound. 

Because for generations, the doctor’s value largely came from being the smartest person in the room—the one holding rare information.

But if AI increasingly handles information retrieval, pattern recognition, and diagnostic assistance…

then the value shifts toward:
trust,
comfort,
presence,
communication,
discernment,
humanity.

In other words:

the human element becomes the differentiator.

And this doesn’t just apply to medicine. It applies to almost every field. Because when information becomes ambient…human beings become differentiated by character.

The Three Things You Should Build Right Now.

The future does not belong to the people who panic. It belongs to the people who become deeply adaptable, deeply curious, and deeply human.

1. Adaptability

The people who survive the next twenty years will not be the people who memorized one software platform in 2024.

They’ll be the people who can learn the next platform in 2027. And the next one in 2031. And the next one after that.

The old economy rewarded stability. The new economy rewards adaptability. This is why your identity cannot be tied to one tool.

If your value comes entirely from one technical function, one repetitive task, or one narrow system…

AI should concern you. But if your value comes from your ability to learn, pivot, communicate, synthesize, and evolve? You become extraordinarily difficult to replace.

The future belongs to learners. Not knowers.

2. Curiosity and Mastery

One of the biggest lies students are told is this: “Only practical majors matter.”

I studied Biblical Studies and Classics, and I wouldn’t trade how it formed me for anything in the world.

On paper, my studies in ancient mythology, anthropology, literature, and culture sounds wildly impractical to some people.

And yet those fields trained me to:
analyze evidence,
weigh competing viewpoints,
learn difficult systems,
think historically,
communicate clearly,
sustain attention,
and pursue mastery over many years.

That matters. Deeply. Because mastery itself changes you. Climbing toward expertise rewires your brain.

You learn discipline.
Pattern recognition.
Mental endurance.
Intellectual humility.
Long-term thinking.

You become adaptable precisely because you learned how to become excellent at something difficult.

And ironically? People who become deeply curious in one area often become capable of learning many others.

That’s what employers increasingly need. Not just workers. Thinkers. I say whether you go to college or pick a company which mentors well, deeply master something that you are passionate about and you will become a curious, adventurous person who is also an asset to society and a corporate culture. 

Liberal Arts is still the best education, although it needs to be economically and principally reformed in many ways. Whatever you do, be curious and master learning how to learn. 

3. Human Skills Are the New Competitive Advantage

This is the one nobody wants to admit. The so-called “soft skills” are no longer soft.They are becoming the hard differentiator.

Communication.
Presence.
Emotional intelligence.
Conflict resolution.
Leadership.
Self-awareness.
Trustworthiness.
Listening.
Social calibration.

These are becoming premium skills in an AI-saturated world. And honestly? I can often tell within a minute whether someone spent meaningful time in college, internships, collaborative environments, mentoring programs, or high-functioning communities.

Not because of intelligence. Because of social fluency. Because they learned how to:

carry conversation,
navigate tension,
read a room,
handle feedback,
work through disagreement,
present themselves professionally,
and collaborate with other human beings.

That does not mean college is the right path for everyone. It absolutely isn’t. But it does mean this: The real purpose of education is shifting.

The future value of education may have less to do with information transfer—and more to do with human formation. Because AI can increasingly provide information.

But it still struggles with wisdom.
Nuance.
Embodiment.
Trust.
Presence.
Taste.
Discernment.
Virtue.

Which means the more ambient AI becomes… the more people will crave deeply human people. Human experiences are going to become what people pay for and participate in.

The future will absolutely reward technical competency.

Learn AI tools.
Use them.
Experiment constantly.

But understand this clearly: The people who thrive will not merely be the most technical. They will be the people who combine technical adaptability with human depth.

The future Philosopher King and Queen is not anti-technology. They simply refuses to become machine-like in a world increasingly shaped by machines.

As the rabbis challenged: Where no one is being a human being… there go and be one.

Think clearly.
Speak with weight.
Act with virtue.

That future still belongs to humans.