Lets Talk About AI

I was very wrong about AI, and the results of what I learnt should scare you!

This post will likely be different to what I’ve done in the past, most of the previous posts have been practical lengthy posts about how I achieved particular financial goals and give you a framework of how you can do it too, this one will be slightly different, more of a warning.

I saw those silly images of Will Smith eating spaghetti and thought oh this is much about nothing, I also couldn’t understand why people in the film industry went on strike in 2023 because at the time the technology wasn’t producing realistic enough results and I thought it never would. I remember thinking at some point in late 2024 that this was going to be massive when I saw photorealistic renderings of video content being produced by multiple models, with correct texturing, lighning particularly showing characters with hair. I did a degree in 3D animation and I know how much work and man-hours goes into producing 1 second of 3d or visual effects content, believe me it’s a lot. More than you can imagine. Just to give you an idea, do you remember harry potter, and the philosophers stone? The scroll that that welcomes Harry to Hogwarts, my lecturer spent 3 months with a mid size team about 4-8 team just animating the scroll, nothing else.

$50,000 per person x 4 / 12 months * 3 months = $50,000, that’s not far off from this, which lines up pretty well with this answer from ChatGPT (Ironic I know)

I could go on and on about the savings film studios will see in the next few years as a result of near perfect physics and the amount they’ll save on compute costs and rendering by utlizing AI, its not perfect but I do think a large portion of that workforce will be out of work or their wages will be significantly reduced as there’s less demand for their labour and workers will have to accept lower and lower work just to stay employed.

The Pace of AI, It’s Quite Scary!

One thing you should pay special attention to is the pace of generative AI and how many very large companies are essentially betting the farm on AI, basically every large technology company you can think of and even more you’ve never heard of!

The fundamentals of AI for these companies only really work if they are able to replace a very large segment of the labour market, that is what they are aiming for, and unlike previous revolutions in the workplace it will affect blue collar and white collar alike, AI can just as easily replace customer service workers as they will investment bankers who preparing pitch decks.

I don’t think the average person on the street realises how fundamental the change to employment will be. Some of the smartest people on the planet are making very large investments in AI, and they expect a return. A great article to read about the outright scale of all of this is Sequoia Cap’s $600bn (with a B) look at AI expenditure https://www.sequoiacap.com/article/ais-600b-question/ it’s actually quite dated because according to foundationCapital a little over $1 trillion (and this isn’t even including the $500bn “STARGATE” investment which Softbank and Oracle are pushing for) has been invested into AI so far, they’ll have to generate an awful lot of enterprise value after net margins and taxes to be able to make back this investment.

However if you believe in Masayoshi Son, CEO of Softbank thinks that AI could drive $19 trillion in revenue annually and like Satya Nadella both believe that the upper limits of AI could be a shift of 10% GDP which is huge!

This is compounded by the fact that we’re seeing massive layoffs due to very high interest rates by recent standards, leading to and historically low jobs numbers in the US and the UK, and that’s if you believe in the numbers, though that’s a story for another day and very high interest rates.

All of this combined will mean companies will feel the need to explore AI as a way to replace human labour and as someone who keeps a rather close eye on this, and who was previously an unbeliever I believe this will happen, it’s only a matter of time.

We have seen countless companies state they are downsizing due to AI. such as:

WINNER! Meta (Facebook) - 11,000 jobs removed - 16.4% of total workforce

1. AT&T - 12,000 jobs removed - 7.5% of total workforce

2. Google (Alphabet) - 12,000 jobs removed - 6.3% of total workforce

3. Goldman Sachs - 2,500 jobs removed - 5.6% of total workforce

4. Microsoft - 10,000 jobs removed - 4.5% of total workforce

5. Ford - 6,000 jobs removed - 3.5% of total workforce

6. IBM - 8,000 jobs removed - 3.1% of total workforce

7. Accenture - 19,000 jobs removed - 2.6% of total workforce

8. Amazon - 27,000 jobs removed - 1.8% of total workforce

9. Siemens - 4,000 jobs removed - 1.3% of total workforce

10. DHL - 7,000 jobs removed - 1.2% of total workforce

11. Walmart - 10,000 jobs removed - 0.5% of total workforce

    source: Deepseek

And this is before AI is fully integrated, imagine them just not hiring at current levels AND job cuts over the next 5 years.

So what can YOU do!

I think the most important thing for you to do in the next 1-3 years is to stockpile your savings reserves, If you do not have 6 - 12 months of expenditures in savings I would make that your priority, incase of a layoff.

I would also make it a priority to transition to a role that cannot be replaced by AI, or will likely be one of the last to be replaced by AI, I very much doubt a robot is going to install my kitchen; sell enterprise software (checkout my guide here); or build a house.

If you're thinking about securing your future against AI disruption, consider roles that rely on hands-on skills, creativity, or human connection—areas where automation struggles. Skilled trades like electricians, plumbers, and mechanics will always be in demand because AI can't physically install, repair, or troubleshoot complex systems in unpredictable environments. Professions like nursing, teaching, sales and therapy require deep empathy, trust, and personal interaction—things AI simply can't replicate. While AI will change many industries, focusing on these areas can help you stay ahead.

I used to think that it would do repetitive, menial tasks which didn’t require a lot of brain power which will be the most at risk to AI, however I now think it’ll be more suited to white collar “deep thinking” type roles, a lot of the manufacturing roles were already cut due to the rise of automation.

I don’t know what you currently do, but I would think of things that AI is likely to not be able to replace in your industry and slowly transition to that. This previous newsletter may be useful to help you do that.

What I am doing to ensure AI does not replace me.

1. I work in a role which I think has a high moat around AI, I work in enterprise sales, I sell very experience $100,000 - $1,000,000 enterprise software which is often very complex, requires multiple engagements with real human beings and which require answers to complex questions. I do not think this will be replaced by AI anytime soon, people buy from people, and will still require a human element. I actually think this may be one of the last jobs to be automated. Again check out my guide here

2. I am create a content business to allow for me to share my ideas but also be creative and leverage the attention the content will provide to sell / promote any future business or other companies who will pay to leverage my content / followers, whilst on the topic setting up my youtube, give me a follow: https://bit.ly/3DpRC9S - I’ve literally done nothing on it so far however I will be uploading every week shortly.

3. Stacking up as much money as possible to be ready for any short term effects this could have on me.

I hope this was helpful. Have a great day!