What do you tell young people they should do to survive when the whole world is turning upside down?

When everyone is talking about how there won't be jobs, how industries will completely shift, when hardly any profession is safe from the effects of AI—what do you tell the next generation to focus on? When the life they want to construct is being built on sand, what are they to do?

I spoke at a small gathering of college-aged youth about this very subject, and in all honesty I still don't feel I have the answers. But directionally, some ideas and guidance. Here's a smattering:

Ask yourself: what in the world will not change? What skills and abilities will remain relevant even if AI takes over all thinking jobs?

• Physical crafts—plumbing, electrical, carpentry. Hands in the real world.
• Human EQ—the ability to work well as a team player, person to person, reading a room, building trust.
• Grit, persistence, curiosity—the qualities that let you adapt when the ground shifts.

The winners of the next generation will be those who learn how to best leverage AI. Emphasis on the word leverage.

It's like a mech-suit you wear that empowers you to do so much more—and reading the owner's manual, understanding the tech, and actually being able to use the suit are the keys to lifting heavier and moving faster.

This technological tidal wave is similar to the advent of the internet. It is definitely going to change the way we do almost everything—but it is going to take time to integrate and permeate industries. That's where a lot of the opportunity is going to live.

Just like it took many years before fax machines were replaced by emails. Just like video conferencing existed for decades before Zoom became ubiquitous during COVID. Just like Amazon launched in 1995 and brick-and-mortar retail is still alive today. So too will it take AI time before it's replaced our old ways of doing things.

So while it's not doom and gloom, it's not rest and vest either. It's the time to be alert, to see what opportunities are emerging, and to work hard to ride the wave—not be swept under by it.