Latest / The Checkpoint Podcast: Questions / Episode 3 | Will AI Take Your Job Before You Retire?
Transcript
- The DECAF Network: Hey, it's Dex, and I just thought I would do a quick recording. ⁓ to answer a question that has been on my mind for a couple of weeks now. It's to do with AI and retirement and business and and all this sort of stuff going on. Now, for those of you that know me, know that I don't like LinkedIn very much. I don't mind it. I was a big part of it. Many, many years ago. ⁓ I know there's a place for it, but as of late, LinkedIn for me has been a little bit I don't know, it's a bit it's a bit icky. It the the posts that are there, there's thousands of memes. The way that there's a particular vernacular that people use, I understand it. It's it's a way for people to get noticed if they're looking for a job, it's a way to kind of puff their chest, it's a way to sell a business or a service. And with the checkpoint and reboot play one, like I I'm I'm back into it. So I get it. I understand it. Now do I have to like it? Maybe not. But I understand that there is a place for it. So being back in that ecosystem and having a look at a lot of the posts that get put up, I noticed that a lot of it is based off AI. Now as I get into my fifties, and depending on when you watch this video, I guess if the video is up and if it's even published at all, I may have already turned 50. And that got me thinking. So for people my age, retirement is a lot closer than not. Okay. And I just actually Googled this. And the answer was a little shocking to me. There is a particular line. ⁓ it says, While the actual average retirement age in Australia hovers between 57 and 64. Many individuals plan to retire at 65. Like 57? Are you kidding me? that would mean that, you know, by the time I turn 50, which is only a matter of months' time, there's there are people that are retiring at at in seven within seven years. That's nuts. Anyway, so it got me thinking. I was talking to somebody about this the other week, at how Most people, once they turn fifty, sure they might give it another 10, 15 years to be safe. You know, they actually said many individuals plan to retire at sixty-five. So once you turn fifty, fifteen years seems to be ⁓ about the average according to that website. Now, that's under the assumption that your particular job is going to be around for 15 years. And with AI, and especially with LinkedIn as well. ⁓ with LinkedIn, I've noticed that most of the roles, most of the positions that are on there, they're all white collar business owners, tech people, all of this sort of stuff. ⁓ you don't normally see trades on there. ⁓ you don't see people that that work with their hands as much. If you do, it's usually the owners of that company. So, you know, you you wouldn't see maybe a plumber. that's an employee there, you might see the person that owns a plumbing business and has a team of plumbers. They're usually on LinkedIn. So the majority of people on there are white collar management, financial, tech. And and I and a and AI. What do you think is the biggest market that AI will disrupt? White collar. People that have desk jobs People that are managers, people that boss other people around. So it's actually interesting for me to see how the majority of articles on LinkedIn are all about AI. Use AI to do this, use AI to do that. And in essence, it's actually going to hurt the majority of people on LinkedIn. Because as this technology improves and it's crazy, a lot of those jobs are no longer gonna be there. So you have a person like me about to turn fifty putting sort of round numbers in place and going, okay, well, I might retire in, you know, in fifteen years, because that's I've been in this job now for 10, 25 years, I get a payout, all of that sort of stuff. And ⁓ that's under the assumption that your position will be there. If you're upper middle management, there's almost a guarantee that at some point within 10 years, maybe even less. Your job's probably not going to be there. It's going to be taken over by AI. It's going to be taken over by automations. And that's something that I don't think people have, I wouldn't say not like everyone, but I I think the majority of people, when they kind of get to 50, think that they're pretty much going to coast the rest of the way. And ⁓ I think that. they're going to be in for a bit of a rude shock when at some point, you know, they they could work for a an institution, big organization, you know, with employees in the thousands and thousands, that at some point, potentially pretty quickly, their job is not going to be around. It's going to be taken over by AI, it's going to be consolidated, it might be outsourced. Who knows? But the way that things are going, a lot of those those jobs are at risk. Now for me, I'm bit different. I run my own business. I'm starting a community. I'm branching out. And so I would consider myself to be pretty safe. I ⁓ I work on the tools, so to speak. So I'm an I tier guy. I go out, I fix things, ⁓ or I fix things, you know, from home. Now I have obviously noticed people wanting to try and fix things themselves and great. I'm I'm I'm I'm happy for them to do that. I'm the same with cars. I like to tinker on my own cars, and if I don't know how to fix it, I usually go into YouTube or Google it and I fix it myself. And so sure, I'm potentially robbing work from a mechanic, but that's just how it is. So I understand it. So my idea of retirement is pretty much working till I die. I I've I've been doing this business thing for so long that I actually don't have a I don't have a work life balance. I I work. For me, it's the same thing. Working is life and life is work. That's because I enjoy what I do. And I understand that I'm very fortunate to be able to do things that an employee can't. And ⁓ that was further solidified by me being an employee for a almost a year, some years back. So I understand and I'm very grateful for the position that I'm in. But for those people out there, who are an employee either in a new job or in a job that they think is going to be their their last job, I think they might need to reconsider their their options. Because at some point, ⁓ AI is going to potentially threaten that job. I'm not sure how. ⁓ I've seen AI used in things that befuddle me. And it seems to have worked. I don't have clear visibility of all industries, so I can only, you know, think of AI in certain industries that I've either worked in and or have looked after in my IT geek. So if I was my age, it's a weird thing to say. Well, I am my age. ⁓ but if I was an employee at my age and I was in the company for to say a couple of years. Five years most. That's a a ⁓ pretty that that would ⁓ harness a lot of people. I think in this day and age company loyalty isn't once what it was. So people tend to bounce around a bit more. And so if I'm say fifty years old and I'm either going getting into my fifth or you know, j getting past my fifth year of employment, that seems to be a pretty pretty good thing. Now, will my job be around in another fifteen years? I don't think so. Based on based on IT and what I've seen. Now, not only does IT have a threat of automating a lot of things, things like reporting, things like detection, things like anywhere where a person was required to analyze data. That's that's on the chopping block 'cause AI is going to be able to do that. And even support itself. Even the job that I do, you know, a lot of it is actually outsourced now. It's quite common to see as an MSP or an IT company have twenty employees and fifteen of those employees are all support and they're all overseas because they're cheap and they're good. They work all hours, there's a bigger spread, there's ⁓ a lot less Overheads you have to pay and I totally understand it. So if I'm in a particular position as an employee and going into my fiftieth year, I'd probably want to start to look for something else. So those are my thoughts. ⁓ I've been rambling on now for about ten minutes. I could do this a much longer. But this is just something that I wanted to get off my chest. ⁓ it's it doesn't I wouldn't say it affects me directly, because like I said, I'm in a bit a bit of a unique situation. No, well not unique, but I'm in a different situation. Whereas I have ⁓ I have friends that are in this exact situation. They're an employee, they've been acquired by other companies. Or they've gotten a new job. And their future, I'm not sure. Their future to requirement, I don't know what it looks like. And I don't think they do either. And I think ⁓ deep down inside, a lot of them are starting to plan for certain things. Either plan to change industries or do another job or maybe start their own business. Who knows? But being fifty Even if it's in a relatively stable company. bending your hedges and saying that, ⁓ yeah, I'll just stay in this company for another fifteen years. Like that might not be a good bit to play. Okay, I think that's all I've got to say about that. I will talk to you later on. Thanks. Bye.