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Ask HN: How do you plan on protecting yourself from being replaced by AIs?

8 points by FrenchDevRemote ↗ HN
I know, I know, coders aren't getting replaced by AIs...for now, given the exponential rate at which AI is progressing, I'm getting kind of worried about my employability in let's say, 5 years or something.

What would you learn right now to make yourself future proof?

I'm a fullstack web dev, and a bit of a jack of all trades, I'm not sure about which path to follow, I have a basic knowledge of how a few AI algorithms works(nothing really advanced but still more than 99% of people, which isn't really a good benchmark but whatever), I don't know anything besides tech, and if our jobs get automated away, I frankly don't know what I'll do.(maybe I'll just hope I'll have enough money to buy a lodge and a piece of land by then lol)

20 comments

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dexwiz
AI will replace many tools. If your job is only to use and be a specialist with a particular tool, then be scared. Most jobs are much more than the tools to we use on the job. AI is a new tool, learn how to use it like any other.
accrual
Perhaps finding your way into a niche that is least likely to employ AI for safety concerns would be helpful. Medicine for example may introduce AI to help with differential diagnosis or detecting pathologies in imaging, but it's unlikely to replace actual doctors or (in our case) technical resources at the hospital or vendor. When something breaks and lives are on the line, an AI will probably be the last thing FDA approved to step in and solve things.
tpmx
Ugh, that's a depressing thought - needing to enter an aggressively buerocractic field in order to avoid being replaced by an AI.

That's probably also a short term fix. I think the (so far) human regulators will soon find that AI's are much better at following rules than humans. And so on...

crop_rotation
Medicine is not a possible career switch unless you are very very young and rich enough. Medical education takes years and years.
accrual
I was more referring to the technical side. Being a doctor will always be lucrative of course, but there's a tremendous amount of tech and technical debt in most medical systems, so there will likely always be demand for people who can manage it. $NewApp might go under, but there will always be demand for medicine (and the tech it runs on).
crop_rotation
All the fields that are a.regulated (medicine), or b.depend strongly on personal connections (sales) will be safe from some time. I don't see any AI replacing sales but once the AI reaches everywhere it is hard to know what careers would look like.
maxilevi
Building a company and taking advantage of the cost of software development going to the floor
rafiki6
The problem is everyone is doing this.

There's no moat anymore. Building some dumb webapp to sell to people to make their lives marginally more convenient is not sustainable model.

So what do you do now? Seems like the only option is to move towards a life and death industry.

But when everyone does this, it's game over.

mclbdn
I am a junior FE dev and might not have that much experience in this field as other commenters.

Still, my senior told me a few days ago: "The only way to avoid being replaced by AI as a dev is to become a dev that knows how to work together with AI". And I think this is the only way to stay relevant as a dev in the future.

FrenchDevRemote
What I mean, is what happen when the AI don't need you anymore?
chatmasta
I hope they replace me so I can do more interesting stuff. I thought that was the whole goal of engineering.

I'm personally not too freaked out. I don't define myself by my job. I'm currently a "startup founder," which to me just means my job is to solve problems and get people to use my solutions to fix their problems. More generally I guess I'm an engineer, but programming is just one tool that I use right now. In the immediate/medium term, I'm excited to have access to AI as another tool for solving problems.

As for the longer term, personally I consider myself sufficiently adaptable and creative that I'm confident I'll be able to deal with whatever problems might arise in the (hopefully) 60 or so years I have left on this earth. And I really don't care what day-to-day job I have for the rest of my life, as long as I get to use my brain for most of it. If AGI appears during that time, at least it will be interesting. I'm sure I'll manage to survive, and regardless, there are plenty of existential risks to worry about, so what's one more? At least this one comes with some potential benefits.

precompute
That's cool, but what are you gonna do for money?
chatmasta
What's everyone else gonna do? I guess I'll figure out how to help them do it better. That doesn't sound too different from what I'm (trying to) do now, really.
MaxHoppersGhost
Seriously. For OP to be so cocky he either is already rich or is naive for too many reasons to list.
baremetal
What benefit would he garner from being fearful rather than thinking he will adapt. Seems like a viable strategy to me.
chatmasta
lol, if i'm not existentially frightened then I'm cocky? Maybe I'm just not neurotically scared of things totally out of my control.

I'm not the one being irrational here. The sky is not falling and we're not all gonna die.

pawelduda
I'll upload myself to an append-only blockchain and become irreplaceable
baremetal
I own a farm and a boutique construction outfit in addition to freelance code slinging. So far ChatGPT has helped me immensely get more code out the door.

I am not worried about it replacing me specifically because I have hedged my bets by diversifying my skill set and income stream.

I may not make as much money in the future, and I do far more physical labor, but I own the means of production of essential goods.

0% worried.

milleniall
Solve problems and you will never be out of work nor money. I wish people could understand this. If AI causes problems, solve that problem.

Do you really think that AI is going to be smooth sailing?