February 14, 2011 was the day artificial intelligence went mainstream. 

That night, more than 11 million American households tuned in to watch ABC’s long-running trivia show, “Jeopardy!” 

They tuned in to watch a pair of human contestants compete against a supercomputer named Watson. To boost public interest, ABC had invited two of the biggest winners in the show’s history—Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter. 

The network spent weeks hyping the historic matchup of “man vs. machine.” Newscasters talked about how the event might affect humanity’s future. It was ridiculous. 

Who was the winner

You may remember the episode. It was a blowout. At the end of day one, Watson had more than $35,000. Brad Rutter was in second place with just $10,000. 

Watson kept dominating on day two. At one point, the computer had six times as much money as the other contestants.

Watson crushed its human opponents. It buzzed in faster than its competitors. That wasn’t the impressive part, though. Everyone knows that computers are faster than people. The amazing part was Watson’s ability to figure out what the clues were asking for. It’s easy to upload Wikipedia onto a storage drive. The hard part is getting the computer to understand what Alex Trebek (or whoever) is saying. And there’s plenty of room for improvement. 

Technology keeps pushing ahead, getting better each year. I’m not sure exactly what the future will look like, but I’m certain artificial intelligence will play a major role. 

Job security ?

History shows us innovation comes with an unfortunate side effect: job destruction. I don’t know what industry is next. But I know this: You can’t have one without the other. The printing press took jobs from scribes. Flying shuttle looms meant less demand for weavers. The Internet killed thousands of travel agencies. 

So many people worried about artificial intelligence, automation, etc. They think robots will eventually take all the jobs. It’s true. Automation and AI are changing many industries: 

•  Self-checkout stations are replacing cashiers at retail stores 
•  People who work in warehouses, like Amazon warehouses, are being replaced by robots 
•  Truck drivers, cab drivers, people who makes cars, etc. are all being replaced by smart machines 
•  Automation and AI are replacing a lot of high-income jobs as well: surgeons, some lawyers, accountants, etc. 

Automation doesn’t just affect Wall-Mart cashiers. The next wave of AI is going to affect MANY higher income jobs. Get ready for it. 

Right now there is ENORMOUS demand for many services and products that society has never been able to meet. One basic example from the recent past: ATM machines. There was huge demand for an easy-to-use machine that would allow people to get cash without waiting in line at a bank. The bank teller industry was terrified. Would this be the end? Would we no longer need tellers? Here’s the truth of what happened: 

•  It turned out the demand for banking services was FAR greater than simply getting a few $20 
•  The cost of providing banking services went way down, allowing banks to open up more branches and provide more services to their customers 
•  The lower costs per service provided allowed banks to offer 10x the number of branches that existed previously 
•  Today the number of bank tellers and other bank employees is probably 1000% greater than it was when ATM machines were created 

Conclusion

The increase in automation and AI will create greater supply for services and products in high demand. This will create more conveniences for consumers at cheaper prices. Consumers like cheaper prices. It gives them more money. And selling greater supply at cheaper prices will allow businesses to generate greater profits. Those profits will allow for greater expansion, more products and services, and more employees hired. 

True, there might end up being fewer cashiers in the world. But maybe cashiers want to explore different jobs. Who knows? Creative destruction has been around since the beginning of the concept of an “economy.”  

Creative destruction is a part of life. Just ask the buggy whip makers and the lamplighters. When tech came for their jobs—the automobile and the electric light bulb, respectively—it happened fast and it was permanent. But we’re also going to see a lot of new, exciting jobs pop up in the next few years, as technology continues to change our lives and the work we all do. 

If things change for the worse, the laws of supply and demand mean that their value goes to zero. Automation would stop. But if things change for the better, then wealth is created across all income classes. And then jobs are created. Prices are lower so consumers are happier. And life becomes richer with greater opportunities. 

The good news is that AI and automation aren’t going to destroy the job market like so many people expect. They WILL shake things up, but they’ll create many new opportunities. This won’t all happen right away, but soon we’re going to see a new landscape of jobs. It’s important to get ready for it.