Money Rehab with Nicole Lapin - How To AI-Proof Your Job

Episode Date: August 1, 2023

To compliment Nicole's episode yesterday about AI helping you reach your financial goals, Nicole is sharing an episode of Help Wanted, the podcast she co-hosts with Entrepreneur Magazine editor in chief Jason Feifer. In this episode, Jason tasks an AI bot with writing a podcast episode... about AI bots replacing writers. And, spoiler alert: the robot does a pretty good job! But Jason isn't worried about his job security, because he knows the secret to becoming irreplaceable. Today, he shares that secret with you. Never miss an episode of Help Wanted! Subscribe here: https://link.chtbl.com/85RcT5bT

I love hosting on Airbnb. It's a great way to bring in some extra cash. But I totally get it that it might sound overwhelming to start, or even too complicated, if, say, you want to put your summer home in Maine on Airbnb, but you live full-time in San Francisco and you can't go to Maine every time you need to change sheets for your guests or something like that. If thoughts like these have been holding you back, I have great news for you. Airbnb has launched a co-host network, which is a network of high quality local co-hosts with Airbnb experience that can take care of your home and your guests. Co-hosts can do what you don't have time for, like managing your reservations, messaging your guests, giving support at the property, or even create your listing for you.

I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work, but sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself.

Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host. I'm Nicole Lappin, the only financial expert you don't need a dictionary to understand. It's time for some money rehab. Yesterday's episode was all about AI and how AI can help you make more money. If you haven't listened to it yet, check it out because we all want to make more money. If you have listened to it, then you've got a sneak peek at today's episode, Jason Pfeiffer's diagnosis of the most anxiety-provoking AI issue,

how AI will affect job security. Jason Pfeiffer, of course, the editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, an overall brilliant, awesome dude, but I think his favorite job is probably being my co-host of Help Wanted, a MNN career podcast. What you're about to hear is actually taken from Help Wanted. It's an episode he did solo. And if you want more of Jason's brilliance and mine, duh, you should subscribe. But in the meantime, I wanted to share this episode with you because it's a really useful take on how to future proof your future in the time of AI. So here it is. it is. This is Help Wanted, the show that tackles all the big work questions you cannot ask anyone else. I'm Jason Pfeiffer, Editor-in-Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine. And I'm New York Times bestselling author and money expert, Nicole Lapin. The helpline is open. I bet that you have opened up Instagram recently and seen

a friend of yours post, and maybe you've done this yourself, a series of images of them that were created by artificial intelligence. They're pretty amazing. They look often very realistic and often very artistic. And that's pretty fun, right? I mean, it feels like you're kind of staring into the future. But you know who is not as excited about that? Well, let me read you an email that I just got from an illustrator and art director at a book company. The person wrote, I've been watching the public progress of AI-produced art, but I'm having trouble thinking about the viability of art as a career in the near future, less for me than for artists behind me, because of AI. AI is not the end of art, but a lot of

people making a living as artists, meager ones at that, could find this to be a tipping point for them. Is there a limit to the mantra that change is opportunity. That's what this illustrator wrote me. And that is not something that people just in art are feeling. It seems that robots are coming for a lot of people's jobs, not just artists. I mean, there's automation at factories. There's talk of self driving cars. That's a lot of people whose jobs are going to be replaced. AI can now even write, are going to be replaced. AI can now even write, write words like a human. In fact, I had an artificial intelligence program write the next part of what I'm about to say to set this episode up. Check this out. In this episode, we're going to talk about how to ensure that your job doesn't get replaced by technology. First, let's take a look at some historical examples of industries that have been heavily impacted by

technology. One of the most well-known examples is the transportation industry. In the past, transportation jobs such as trucks and taxi drivers were highly sought after because they offered a steady income and benefits. However, with the advent of self-driving cars, many of these jobs are now at risk of being replaced by technology. So, what can you do to make sure that your job isn't replaced by technology? One option is to focus on developing skills that are difficult for technology to replicate. For example, jobs that require creative problem solving, critical thinking, and interpersonal

skills are less likely to be replaced by technology. Additionally, it is important to stay up to date with the latest technology and be willing to learn new skills. This will make you more valuable to your employer and increase your chances of staying employed in the face of technological changes. In conclusion, adapting to technology is an important part of ensuring that your job isn't replaced by it. By focusing on developing skills that are difficult for technology to replicate, staying up to date with the latest technology, and being proactive about your career,

you can increase your chances of staying employed and thriving in the face of technological change. And that was the robot talking. And I have to say the robot was so good that this episode is done. Okay, this episode isn't done, but I gotta say that was very impressive. That was good advice.

But I'm gonna offer you some additional perspective, because I think that the robot missed a few things. Number one, the robot just kind of went on and on in ways that maybe feel unconvincing to you, because it's just stating facts, or at least perspective. But also, because there's some more nuance here. And if you want to feel empowered and not afraid, and in fact, be able to recognize the new opportunities being created by the things that seem like they're taking away our opportunities, well, then your competitive advantage starts now. To start, I am going to do a thing that

actually the robot suggested, which was to look at history. But let me not just tell you a simple fact. Let me tell you a story. One of my favorite stories from history, because what it captures really well is what it looks like when we panic over change that is coming to us and therefore don't spend enough time and energy focused on how that change can create new gain. And if we find that gain first and move towards it, we are ahead of the game. So here's that story. 1877, Thomas Edison invents the phonograph or the very first record player. It was a cylinder back then, actually, but eventually it became flat. And this was absolutely revolutionary to humankind.

Just consider how insanely disruptive this idea was for all of human history, for all of human history up until this moment, the only way that you could listen to music is if a human being was standing in front of you and playing an instrument. And then suddenly that changed. And now a machine could capture sound and replay it to you whenever you wanted. People didn't believe it at first. They thought that there had to be a band hiding behind a wall somewhere. But once they discovered that this technology was real, they loved it. They were thrilled by it. They brought it into their homes. But you know who wasn't excited about it? Musicians. Because, of course, they saw themselves being replaced. Why would you hire a musician when now you had a machine that could just

play the music? And so musicians started fighting back against this technology. The leader of the resistance was a guy named John Philip Sousa. You may not know his name today, but you definitely do know his music. He wrote all the military marches that we're still familiar with today. So that's John Philip Sousa. So John Philip Sousa wrote this amazing piece that you should Google right now. It was called The Menace of Mechanical Music, and he wrote it in 1906 in Appleton's Magazine. And it was an argument against recorded music and all the ways in which this new technology was going to be damaging. And my favorite of his arguments goes like this. He said, if you allow recorded music technology, the phonograph, the first record player, if you allow that into the home, it will replace all forms of live performance at home. Because of course,

why would somebody play an instrument when there's a machine that could do it for them? And because all live music performance is now gone from the home, mothers will no longer sing to their children. Because of course, why would mothers do that when there's a machine that could do it for them? And because children grow up to imitate their mothers, the children will grow up to imitate the machines. And thus, we will raise a generation of machine babies. That's the concern here. That was his argument. And he was serious about it. And people believed it. And we might say now, well, that is ridiculous. But that is not a ridiculous way of thinking. That is, in fact, exactly how we think now. Because what we tend to do when we see change, particularly change that

feels pretty close and intimate, is we immediately equate it with loss. We immediately look at something that we are comfortable with and familiar with, and we say, I am no longer going to have access to that thing. And then because we want to know the future, we want to know what's going to come next, we start to extrapolate based on what we think we know, which is loss. And therefore, if I lose this, then I'm going to lose that. And if I lose that, then I'm going to lose that other thing. And that's how we start to get into a spiral of panic. And that's what John Philip Sousa was doing because he couldn't imagine a world in which the robot does not fully replace the human. And then he started to say, well, if the robot replaces the human, then what else gets replaced?

Fundamental things. But what actually happened? Well, what actually happened, of course, is that recorded music technology enabled musicians to record something in New York today and have it available in San Francisco tomorrow. It allowed musicians to reach people that they couldn't physically reach before. John Philip Sousa was in the live music business before recorded music because the only way in which he could make money off of a performance was to actually travel somewhere and then perform live in front of people.

But you know what? That's pretty limiting. There are only so many places that somebody can be. And so the record players were now allowing musicians to totally scale their reach. John Philip Sousa could reach so many more people than he ever could before. And because he didn't see that, he spent a lot of time and energy protecting a system that limited his own economic opportunity. And that is the thing that I worry about with us. Now, let's be clear. Recorded music hurt people. It did. It caused a lot of job loss. I mean, musicians, for example, used to be hired to

play the soundtracks of movies in movie theaters because before there was recorded music, you had silent movies and then people would watch them with a live band performing the soundtrack. And now, of course, you didn't need that. A lot of those people got laid off. Now, of course, you didn't need that. A lot of those people got laid off. Transitions are not easy. But here's the thing. If a change is here, then it doesn't really make sense for us to spend too much energy debating whether or not that change should happen once it has already happened.

Instead, what we need to do is start to think about what it means for us and how we can start to capitalize on it. How we can be the musicians from the late 1800s and the early 1900s that actually started moving quickly towards recorded music and figuring out how to define that space ourselves rather than be the people who resist it and are left behind. Now, you might be thinking, well, okay, that's fine. That's a nice story. But is that how things really work? Always? And the answer I have found throughout time is, yeah, more or less, because of this thing that is called the lump of labor fallacy. Stick around. Help Wanted will be right back. Stick around. Help Wanted will be right back. time you need to change sheets for your guests or something like that. If thoughts like these have been holding you back, I have great news for you. Airbnb has launched a co-host network,

which is a network of high quality local co-hosts with Airbnb experience that can take care of your home and your guests. Co-hosts can do what you don't have time for, like managing your reservations, messaging your guests, giving support at the property, or even create your listing for you. I always want to line up a reservation for my house when I'm traveling for work, but sometimes I just don't get around to it because getting ready to travel always feels like a scramble, so I don't end up making time to make my house look guest-friendly. I guess that's the best way to put it. But I'm matching with a co-host, so I can still make that extra cash while also making it easy on myself. Find a co-host at Airbnb.com slash host.

Welcome back to Help Wanted. Let's get to it. So the lump of labor fallacy is an economic term. And the fallacy is there's a perception that there is a fixed amount of work to be done and a fixed number of people to do that work. That is the lump of labor, a fixed lump of labor. Just imagine it like plop down do that work. That is the lump of labor, a fixed lump of labor. Just imagine it like plop down on the table. That is your lump of all the work that is to be done. And it's a balance. And if you do anything to upset that balance,

well, then you just cause permanent imbalance. This is why, for example, people fear that immigration leads to job loss because they say, well, these new people are going to come into a community or into a country and they're going to start taking the jobs from the people who already live there and therefore it's going to create a lot of unemployment. But that is never actually what happens. That's not how those stories play out.

And the reason for that, of course, is because immigrants aren't just workers. They are also consumers. immigrants aren't just workers. They are also consumers. They don't just work. They also want things. And they want things that are going to be produced by and sold by other businesses. It expands the ecosystem. And they also can create their own companies. And so this is what we see all the time, not just with immigration, but with technology as well, that when you introduce new technology into an industry, it totally creates disruption. There's no question about that. But then it also creates growth. majority of every dollar that somebody earned in America went towards their basic living expenses. And so that meant that they were buying food and housing and so on. Then as manufacturing improved and things became cheaper and food wasn't as expensive and housing maybe wasn't as expensive, well, then they didn't need to spend as much money on their basic living expenses.

So what happens as a result? Is it simply that because all these things got cheaper that now there's less money to go around and there's more unemployment? No, because the thing is that now that people are saving money, now that more of every dollar that they spend, they are able to keep, they start looking for other ways to spend that money. And they want to enjoy themselves. And therefore, we create a leisure economy with movies and attractions and sporting events. And that's where all that stuff comes from. It comes from people who now have more money and more time thanks to new technology. And it drives opportunity where

people start to say, well, I'm going to create new businesses that are going to serve people and their new needs. Now, how can we apply that to what's happening today? Well, if I was advising that artist who reached out to me, what I would say is, why don't you step back and think about what the application is going to be of this AI art? Where are people going to find this stuff really useful? And where are they going to be less interested in it? And then you might want to start looking at how to participate in one or both of those arenas. For example, I don't know if you've ever created AI art, but I have actually,

because there was a program and I spent some money on it. And then I learned a little bit of how to do it. And it turns out that giving direction to AI is actually pretty complicated. And it's a skill that people are now developing. Because AI doesn't just like spit things out at random. I mean, I guess it could, but you don't want 5 million images to look through. What you want to do is give it direction. And that direction is an interesting technical skill that an artist who already has an artistic eye and then can learn how to direct the AI probably can create all sorts of amazing things that are unique to their new evolved skill set. And I guarantee you

that there are going to be jobs in the future where people are working with the machines rather than just figuring out how to circumvent the machines. But also let's start to think about how these kinds of changes and maybe even truly replacing something that we used to be familiar with, is going to lead to us recognizing better ways to do things. What could that be? Well, okay, let's think through a couple of them. Email. When email started to replace letters, handwritten letters, you know what happened as a result? Stationery became really special, and people started to build companies around serving the needs of those who wanted to do something more unique and more human than just send an email to the people that they love.

It sparked a whole new way to think about industry. I've been talking with friends of mine who are professors at schools, and they have been thinking a lot about how their students are now going to be to write school papers? At that point, how can you possibly catch it? And how can you possibly then know if the student has learned anything? I was talking about this with a professor recently, and I said to him, you know what, let's just imagine for a moment that because it's going to be impossible to police whether students are using AI to write their papers, the only solution is to stop assigning papers. What would happen as a result? And the professor said, well, I guess we would have to come up with other ways to evaluate whether or not that student had absorbed the information. And I said, all right, well, let's start to think about what that would look like.

Like, what's a better system? Because I'll be honest with you, when I was a student, I mean, I had to write those papers myself because there wasn't any AI to do it. But I totally figured out how to game the system because it's not that hard. I was an English major and I would have to write essays about books that I did not read. You know what I did? Here's what I did. I just like flipped to the middle of the book because obviously if I reference something at the beginning of the book,

it's going to be clear that I didn't read it. So I go to the middle of the book. I read like a scene or a chapter and then I know what the professor is looking for. I know that they want me to engage in certain ideas. I can use just a tiny amount of reference and then I can just kind of riff on it and produce something that's basically going to achieve the things that they're looking for. Did I learn anything? No, I did not. It was a totally ridiculous waste of time exercise for both of us. So now what we are really doing is seeing that technology is exacerbating and finally revealing that maybe the college essay is just not a good way. Maybe it was never a good way to actually grade students and that we've just been doing it for so long because it was the

only idea we had. And now it's going to go away and we're going to be forced to think about something different, something better. What could it be? Well, in that conversation with a friend of mine who's a professor, what we came to was, well, what would happen if students actually had to do some kind of oral exam? Where, you know, it doesn't have to be like a big speech and presentation, but something like maybe almost a kind of mini dissertation where you come in and you have to have a conversation and answer some questions and engage in big ideas with the professor. At that point, actually, the student has to have a far wider knowledge base about the subject matter than if they were just narrowly

writing some stuff on paper that was just evaluated based on what they wrote down. This is a better system, I think. Let's get rid of the essay. Fine. AI replaces the SA. Good. Because it wasn't that good to begin with and there are better systems. So now let's apply that to everything that we think and do. Just because a machine is coming for and possibly going to replace something that we do doesn't mean that the thing that we do is the only way to do it or the better way to do it. And what we instead should be thinking is, okay, how do I find better ways to do the thing that we really wanted to do? Because if you are an artist, your job isn't actually to make art. Your job is actually to achieve an emotion with people because people are looking for something. They're looking for art that is going to make them feel a certain way or that's going to help them feel like their room looks

really nice or their design on this wedding announcement looks really nice or whatever the case is. You aren't just selling a piece of art. You're selling an emotion just in the same way as a professor isn't actually looking for an essay. They're looking for engagement with the material. Once you start to step back from the specific way in which you articulate whatever it is that you do, you will find that actually maybe there were better ways to do it all along. Will this be easy? It will not. Would it be nice if we could actually just freeze time and do whatever we do really well without ever having to change? Yeah, that sounds pretty nice, but that's not the world that we're in. We're in a world in which things change and technology is constantly improving. But throughout time, the constant is that when technology improves or automates or makes more convenient anything

that we're doing, yeah, it causes some disruption, but it also creates massive opportunities. And that is what's in front of us now. And this entire thing, start to finish, was written by AI. No, I'm kidding. It wasn't. It was mostly me talking, but that stuff in the beginning was AI. And you know what? I'm not afraid of it. I think it was pretty good. Help Wanted is a production of Money News Network. Help Wanted is hosted by me, Jason Pfeiffer.

And me, Nicole Lapin. Our executive producer is Morgan Lavoie. If you want some help, email our helpline at helpwanted at moneynewsnetwork.com for the chance to have some of your questions answered on the show. And follow us on Instagram at moneynews and TikTok at moneynewsnetwork for exclusive content and to see our beautiful faces. Maybe a little dance? Oh, I didn't sign up for that. All right. Well, talk to you soon.