If you are unsure what to do in the age of AI, it is good to look to the past.
When you think about what kind of life you have lived up to now, a path opens up.
AI levels people’s abilities.
With coding agents, the gap between the very best programmer and an ordinary programmer becomes vanishingly small.
With research agents, the gap between the best consultant and an ordinary person’s research ability also becomes vanishingly small.
The speed at which work gets done also becomes nearly the same between an average person and a genius, because the waiting time of the agents becomes the bottleneck.
In other words, if you look only at a snapshot of the present, there is almost no difference in people’s abilities.
So then, what creates value is your past.
For example, suppose you have lived in Madison, Wisconsin, for 20 years.
In the age of AI, that becomes a major asset.
The status of “having lived in Madison for 20 years” is something that no matter how much an excellent AI might want, it can never create.
Suppose there is a community revitalization project in Madison.
An excellent consulting firm might step forward to propose a plan.
But in the age of AI, you can raise your hand too.
It does not matter if you do not have knowledge of finance or business planning. AI can help with those practical skills.
If abilities are closely matched, then between an outside consulting firm and you, with your track record of “having lived in Madison for 20 years,” the city may choose you.
Even if you are in a completely different profession now, having majored in archaeology 10 years ago is also a major asset in the age of AI. The status of “having majored in archaeology 10 years ago” is something AI cannot produce.
Even making handmade crafts as a hobby for 30 years is also a major asset in the age of AI. The status of “having made handmade crafts as a hobby for 30 years” is something AI cannot produce.
From this, it also becomes clear what kinds of things you should invest your time and money in.
If you are unsure what to study in the age of AI, you should study the classics.
AI may write works better than Shakespeare, but it cannot create the history of having been read continuously for 400 years.
AI may produce ideas better than Plato, but it cannot create the history of having been studied continuously for 2,000 years.
Time is a powerful moat that AI cannot overcome.
The value of such things does not easily decline, so you can keep learning them without worrying that they will lose their value in the age of AI.
Of course, AI also knows Shakespeare and Plato, but that does not mean they lose their value.
These classics help cultivate intuition. They let us see the direction humanity has been facing. Intuition will not lose its value even in the age of AI.
It is not too late even now to build history.
AI has not yet completely taken human jobs, and there is still time to build your own history.
If you have a dream, you should start right now. If you begin now, then 10 years from now, when the age of AI truly arrives, those 10 years will become a great moat that supports your dream.
Goethe also said this: if you have a dream, if you think something might be possible, begin right now. To be bold is talent, power, and magic. Begin right now.
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Ryoma Sato
Currently an Assistant Professor at the National Institute of Informatics, Japan.
Research Interest: Machine Learning and Data Mining.
Ph.D (Kyoto University).
