“Hey, what do you do for work?”
“Many things, mainly building stuff by writing code.”
“So how do you stay relevant in the age of artificial intelligence?”
If only I could have a dollar for each time I’ve had this conversation.
One day, nobody will have to wonder about AI’s role in society, because we will have worked through the ambiguity to effectively use whichever tools were available in our time.
I think the real question people are asking is more about a fear of the unknown rather than feeling left behind.
It’s also important to define “relevant” beyond some mythical, hyper-productive state where nothing can throw us off-course. Steady growth over time is more fitting. The honest, day-in, day-out balance of learning to swim in rough seas instead of sinking below the surface.
The good news is that staying relevant is how we grow, even as children! Adapting to the world around us and continue figuring things out as we progress through various stages of life.
Moving through these shifting realities is a skill that everyone must learn just to survive; staying afloat in rough waters is a practiced art form.
It also happens to be the kind of “talent” that keeps you moving when the path forward is hard to define. Working to stay “relevant” is just part of being human.
Tools Keep Getting Better – What’s Missing?
The Adobe Creative Suite leveled the playing field by giving everyone access to the same world-class tools like a world-class designer. But having the tools wasn’t enough. People didn’t know what was good and they didn’t have the world-class experience to wield those tools. It wasn’t just about learning the tool — it was about having the ability to recognize what good design actually was.
Canva also did an amazing job of democratizing access to a rich ecosystem of design tools. Then, people started creating templates, and companies started creating templates…now AI is creating templates.
This mixing of different elements together will never stop, but the user is ultimately the one with the final say. Will this flyer promote my birthday party? Will this app engage a community of humans to interact with one another?
The Real Skills Needed
We need to put in time to learn how these tools work, that’s a huge part of what we’re all doing right now with all the various AI services. But the problem is when we as users don’t know why those tools actually produce quality outputs. Why does that design work, what makes a good mobile app, etc.
In the coding space, you can certainly use AI tools to fill in a lot of gaps. I’m using some of these tools myself. I don’t know how to write Swift, for example, I just know how to describe what I’m trying to do like a developer would speak, which helps the AI tools to create that concept in Swift instead of React.
That said…I still don’t know if I’m doing it the right way.
I know what the output should be when writing code because I have decades of experience. But I still don’t know how to quality check that output when it comes from an AI in a language that I haven’t learned. I’m asking a robot to do that step for me. But the robot is indiscriminate about whether the solution is efficient, has good user experience in mind, has security holes…you get the idea.
The same thing happens when we put Photoshop or Canva into someone’s hands. They can put some colors and shapes together and never know if or why what they’re doing produces good design.
The balance of momentum and thriving off of fast results has to be matched by an understanding of underlying quality.
Balancing Momentum with Understanding
Quality doesn’t come from knowing how to use the tools, though that certainly is a step along the path. Quality in any field requires studying the fundamentals: the analog version, the color theory, the foundational pieces of what you’re trying to build.
What makes a good mobile app?
What makes good design?
What makes good work in any field?
You need to study the human side of these questions in conjunction with the current tools to get the job done. That’s how you stay relevant.
Good Ideas Come From Anywhere Humans
This is all only going to get faster and more intense. I think the tools are going to continue to get more fragmented, broken into smaller groups of capabilities instead of everybody using the handful of AI gateways that we use today. At least I hope that’s what happens, because right now everything is passing through a very small group of tools. Not only does that mean that our outputs are going to become more homogenized, it reduces our ability to have novel creations as individuals.
If we continue to go through similar routines and structures within AI services, we increase the risk of remixing in similar ways to one another. And remixing is the only trick that AI can do for us. It doesn’t have the ability to create based upon original thought that can only come from deep within a human.
Creative work expressed as a series of dice rolls and remixes will always be a race to the bottom. We can’t play that game. We need to develop a different set of skills that can’t be reduced to numbers on a screen.
Fresh Human-Based Perspectives
AI is definitely not replacing human work. I do agree with someone who said that it enhances human worth. That’s because it creates additional contrast between programatic outputs and the messy bits that only humans can express.
The big question is: what is human worth based upon? The individuality, the creative expression, the imagination, the dreams, the hopes, the fears? These are just some of the the human elements that need to be enhanced by these tools, and I think it’s our job to be in charge over that process.
I recently heard this quote on the Photowalk podcast:
Random but Relative Creativity, as a Human
This really speaks to the tension that I feel around what it means to develop the “talent” of staying relevant. Looking for ways to apply what you know today, to learn a new way of expressing it, tomorrow.
This goes beyond work – it’s what we do every day just being human! No matter your field of work, your phase of life, or your future hopes, you are the only person who can both view and wrangle the world in the way that you do.
Sometimes that feels random but we are always exploring and creating in relation to our own lived experiences.
Teaching the Next Generation (and Ourselves)
When I think about how to open this doorway to my own children — how do you teach somebody who is totally empty? — I realize that I don’t want to teach them how to write AI prompts. If my son wants to build a mobile app, I’ll ask: “What are you trying to do? What is the goal? What is the end result you’re trying to reach?”
I want to teach them critical thinking, surprise and delight, security, privacy…the list goes on. These concepts are so much bigger than the current ecosystem of tools we have available to us.
The skills that we need are both technical and foundational. They need to be balanced by teaching people to understand “the basic stuff” about the world.
Show me somebody who understands the value of life, can think critically, has a worldview that is accurate and whole? I can teach them to use any tool.
We can expand upon those basic foundations about life through whichever process makes the most sense in the present…so long as we retain our humanity along the way.
Deep down, people understand the value of making these tradeoffs. They understand the nuances of specific interactions and how valuable it is to encourage humans sharing moments together. Those are things we need to teach people in every time and place.
Our Shared Challenge
Your life has to be valued beyond the output of your work. There’s more to you than meets the eye. The rest of us need to learn from your perspective and steady progress along that path.
We have to start with the foundational pieces. At the center, we must ensure that everybody retains their humanity while interacting with AI. Learning to reframe what humanity-based “quality” looks like is more impactful than chasing other metrics of success.
Maybe making a buck each time someone asks about AI isn’t the sustainable strategy that I need to further my career. But working toward a future where those outside factors don’t damage my creative potential? That sounds like a “talent” worth developing.