All is calm, AI’s bright
Question: Artificial intelligence or AI is not only coming. It is already here. Should I be afraid that it will replace a lot of jobs, including mine?
Answer: Throughout human history, technological breakthroughs have always raised fears of massive job loss.
During the Industrial Revolution from the late 1700s to 1800s, people feared that machines like the spinning jenny and power loom would destroy textile jobs. Luddites, a group of English textile workers, famously smashed machines from 1811 to 1816, believing that automation would replace craftsmen.
With the invention of the steam engine and advent of mechanized transportation also in the 1800s, people feared that steam engines would eliminate horse-based transport workers, blacksmiths and carriage makers. Later on (i.e., 1920s to 1940s), with the coming of electricity and factory electrification, people expected mass unemployment for steam engineers, boiler operators and machine tenders.
In 1913, people feared that Henry Ford’s moving assembly line would destroy skilled labor. Decades later, people dreaded industrial robots as they could replace factory workers.
In the 1980s and 1990s, people thought personal computers would render clerks, typists, accountants and office workers obsolete.
In the 1990s to 2000s, people thought that the internet would make jobs in traditional retailing, newspapers, travel agents and media disappear. And during the same period, automated teller machines or ATMs were feared as they could replace bank tellers.
In general, people feared that these past technological revolutions would permanently replace human labor, destroy traditional crafts, reduce wages and concentrate wealth among factory owners. Most of these expectations materialized.
However, new opportunities always emerged. The lower production costs afforded by technological revolutions led to lower prices of goods, higher demand and more economic activity. New industries form around new technologies. There was an increase in maintenance, programming and support roles. Human skills shifted to what machines could not yet do at the time.
While eliminating some jobs, automation also created whole new industries (e.g., railroads, automotive, electronics, IT), new professions (e.g., engineers, operators, technicians, administrators) and led to massive productivity gains that raised living standards.
History repeats itself. This time around, people fear that AI will eliminate repetitive knowledge tasks. But AI will also create jobs in prompt engineering, AI auditing, model training, cybersecurity, AI oversight and human-AI collaboration. There will be productivity gains that could open new economic sectors like personalized health care (i.e., tailored prevention, diagnosis and treatment to the unique biological, behavioral and environmental profile of each individual) that heretofore was unprofitable.
AI will make personalized health care possible at scale. Other new economic sectors are autonomous logistics and hyperautomation services.
AI adoption will be much faster via software with updates propagated globally within hours. Companies can automate entire workflows using cloud-based AI. More importantly, AI disruption will affect both blue-collar and white-collar work simultaneously.
In the past, when technology replaced physical labor, repetitive mechanical tasks and dangerous or strenuous jobs, humans shifted work toward oversight, mixed manual and cognitive work, and service roles.
With the advent of AI, for the first time in human history, thinking tasks are being automated. But even today, when AI is replacing cognitive tasks, data processing, writing, coding, analysis and some decision-making, humans are adapting by shifting to creativity, strategy, emotional intelligence and supervision of AI systems.
So what can you do to protect your employability in the time of AI? First, build skills that AI still cannot replace, then leverage on what AI has.
AI struggles with leadership and team management, relationship-building and trust, creativity with context (e.g., content strategy, storytelling, conceptual design), problem-solving in ambiguous situations, ethical judgment and decision-making, negotiations and human-to-human service (e.g., sales, health care, education, counseling).
Jump-start continuous learning, especially in AI, like prompt engineering, for daily productivity. Get comfortable with data tools like Excel, Python and other AI analytics tools. Prepare financially by building six to 12 months of emergency funds, reducing high-interest debt, keeping fixed expenses low and creating diversified income streams, including investing.
In other words, use AI to improve your own financial decision-making in cash, debt, risk and wealth or what I call EnRich CD-RW management.
And since AI is like a double-edged sword, protect yourself from AI-related scams and fraud like deepfake voices pretending to be family, fake videos, AI-generated emails mimicking your bank and personalized phishing. Use multifactor authentication everywhere, never trust calls or messages from strangers, verify through separate channels and avoid sharing personal data online.
Lastly, prepare for career transition before it is forced on you. You could build networks, attend industry events, update your AI-related skills yearly, or consider which parts of your current job are most automatable and position yourself in the least automatable areas of your field.
But it would be far better to adopt AI to adapt to the changing times. The future is brighter than before.
Send questions via “Ask a Friend, Ask Efren” free service at personalfinance.ph, SMS, Viber, Twitter, LinkedIn, WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. Efren Ll. Cruz is a registered financial planner and director of RFP Philippines, seasoned investment adviser, bestselling author of personal finance books in the Philippines and a YAMAN Coach. To consult a YAMAN Coach, email yaman@personalfinance.ph. To learn more about personal financial planning, attend the 114th RFP Program this January 2026. To inquire, e-mail info@rfp.ph or text 09176248110.
