AI and your job

The future of work

Greg Isenberg

Jun 26, 2024

The future of work is about to get wild. Millions of jobs will change and a golden era for entrepreneurship is beginning.


Let me break it down the future of work for you:

1. Human-powered (we are still here)
Right now, it’s all us. Humans run the show, make the decisions, and do the work. Sure, we use software like Figma or Google Docs, but those are tools. It’s a people show.

Everyone is overwhelmed with the amount of work to do. But the winds are changing.

2. AI-assisted, human-powered (2025-2026)

In the next few years, AI will become our sidekick. Think Iron Man and Jarvis. AI will handle the grunt work – data analysis, scheduling, routine tasks. We’ll focus on strategy, creativity, and decision-making.

We become the captain, and AI becomes our GPS.

Picture a doctor using AI to analyze patient data faster and more accurately than ever. The AI suggests possible diagnoses, but the doctor makes the final call. The result? Better healthcare, faster.

Or imagine creating short-form video content. With AI, the process becomes 100x faster, allowing you to focus on the creative stuff while AI handles the rest

Everyone will have AI-assisting them. This era will kill the middleman.

H/t John Rush for this graphic

3. AI-agent powered, human-assisted (2027-2030)

By 2027, AI agents will take the lead. They’ll run complex operations, make real-time decisions, and optimize processes. Our role? To oversee, guide, and refine the AI’s work. Imagine a financial advisor whose AI agent manages client portfolios. The AI makes investment decisions, tracks market trends, and adjusts strategies on the fly. The advisor steps in for big-picture planning and personal client interactions.

Everyone will have 100s of agents working for them.

4. Humanoids, AI-agent powered (2030 and beyond)
Next up, humanoids. By 2030, we’re talking robots. Not just software, but software plus hardware. Imagine robots that can cook, clean, build, and even care for the elderly. They’ll be everywhere – in homes, hospitals, restaurants, and construction sites. Our job? To design, supervise, improve these machines and spin up new businesses around these machines.

Everyone will become a “humanoid entrepreneur”.

To summarize (from David Fuesser)

AI following the apprenticeship model:

1. I do, you watch.

2. I do, you help.

3. You do, I help.

4. You do, I watch.

So, what does this all mean?

1. Don’t do what IBM and McDonald's did. McDonald's hired IBM and spent millions on an AI drive-thru in 100 restaurants. The problem was the tech wasn’t good enough. It couldn’t understand accents. They skipped steps, jumping from human-powered to AI-agent powered too quickly. Skipping steps is risky.

2. Acquiring businesses just got REALLY interesting. Imagine buying a business for 3X EBITDA and adding AI to make it 10X EBITDA in 12 months. You’ve unlocked an infinite money glitch. Flip that business and retire, or keep it cash-flowing and use that to buy the next one.

3. The best AI businesses don’t have AI yet but have the best niche data. The real opportunities are in traditional businesses that haven’t leveraged AI. So, it’s interesting to see which businesses have proprietary data yet haven’t fully embraced AI. You could either license the data and incubate something. Or acquire them. Or do a deal with them to bring them into the AI age.

4. AI agents hiring humans for edge cases. More and more, we’ll see AI agents managing tasks but hiring humans for complex, nuanced situations. Think of it as AI managers with human assistants. I know how weird this sounds but I believe this is the direction we’re headed in.

5. New industries will emerge. With new concepts like humanoid robots entering various fields, new industries around robot maintenance, robot training, and even robot psychology will emerge. The job market will expand in directions we haven’t even imagined yet.

6. Automation will be the new AI. Right now, there’s lots of talk around AI. But equally as magical is automation. Entire workflows will be automated. Just like when you put your thermostat to 70 degrees fahrenheit in your house, everything works to make it just perfect. Business will be mostly automated.

7. Experiment with AI tools. I’m trying 2-3 new tools per week. Play with agents, build GPTs etc. Experiment. So much upside in getting good at these tools. It'll allow you to the see the world in a new way.

8. Incentivize your team to play with AI tools. They might not want to. Probably not. They view it as competition, as change. But the more they use AI, the more upside for you.

I gotta say – It’s the wild west. But in the wild west, there’s ton of opportunities.

It might feel overwhelming, but it fires me up.

Anyone can become an entrepreneur.

Soon, you’ll just need the right AI behind you and the right idea to drive to.


Note: I write posts like this every week, packed with free startup ideas, insights on business building, and strategies for succeeding in the online world. It’s called Greg’s letter.

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