Posted on 04/27/2026 9:13:23 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
Plenty of people are concerned about the rise of artificial intelligence, or AI. Two of our four kids are freelance graphic artists, and they are (legitimately) worried about their incomes being yanked as more people use AI for simple graphics chores like designing logos, and increasingly for more complicated work, like graphics for television programming and websites. It's a fair thing to be worried about, but as I have advised them both, that genie ain't going back in the bottle, so they'd best figure out how to work with it - or find another line of work.
These kinds of worries are, increasingly, spreading through the younger generations, and at least one report informs us that young college kids are seeking out AI-proof lines of study.
Two years ago, Josephine Timperman arrived at college with a plan. She declared a major in business analytics, figuring she’d learn niche skills that would stand out on a resume and help land a good job after college.
But the rise of artificial intelligence has scrambled those calculations. The basic skills she was learning in things like statistical analysis and coding can now easily be automated. “Everyone has a fear that entry-level jobs will be taken by AI,” said the 20-year-old at Miami University in Ohio.
A few weeks ago, Timperman switched her major to marketing. Her new strategy is to use her undergraduate studies to build critical thinking and interpersonal skills — areas where humans still have an edge.
“You don’t just want to be able to code. You want to be able to have a conversation, form relationships and be able to think critically, because at the end of the day, that’s the thing that AI can’t replace,” said Timperman, who is keeping analytics as a minor and plans to dive deeper into the subject for a one-year master’s program.
That seems a little fuzzy. Who says AI won't one day take over a variety of tasks like marketing? It may be hard to imagine now, but the capabilities AI has today would have been hard to imagine ten years from now - and these are young people, with 40 or 50 years of career ahead of them.
At least some of these young students are aware of the trend and are trying to react. And, there are still disciplines taught in the universities that won't be replaced by AI, or at least, not completely.
There's another consideration, though, that doesn't involve six figures of student debt. There's a possibility that the kids in this article have, apparently, not considered, and it's a possibility that isn't likely to be taken over by AI any time soon: The trades.
Unless there is some startling and sudden improvement in robotics in the near future, then professions like carpentry, plumbing, electrical work, and so forth will be safe from the AI revolution. An AI may be able to write code, but for now, at least, it can't drive a nail or replace a fuse box. A computer hooked to your car or truck may be able to run a diagnostic and tell you that your alternator is failing, but it can't replace the alternator.
All of this seems part and parcel of this notion of "every kid should go to college." Not only is that patently untrue; many kids, in fact, should not go to college, but it's caused our nation's young skulls full of mush to neglect careers which are honest, honorable, and lucrative. We need more welders, mechanics, electricians, and carpenters, and we always will. And AI won't be taking those jobs, not anytime soon.
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I still believe a classic liberal arts education (not what it’s been turned into), is the best way to train the mind to think, and not be indoctrinated.
The question is, where can you get that kind of education anymore, other than figuring out how to do it on your own?
LOL
One of my grandsons is taking welding classes as an adjunct to his HS classes.
Haven’t seen any H1B welding fabricators of late......
Could not be happier. He recently scored $500 worth of welding swag (helmet, gloves, etc) So proud of both his welding skills and his home smithy activities.
The ‘trades’ like plumbing, electrical, construction might have five, maybe ten years of good employment until everything becomes modular, and robots CAN do the vast majority of it.
I recommend going into Robot Repair... there might be 15 or 20 years of good jobs in that field before Robot Repair Robots take over.
Personally, were I a young man, I’d be studying Robot Destruction. Might not be any money in it, but survival from the coming equivalent of’Skynet’ might be a good benefit.
In the future there will be a market for products and services that are certified AI-free.
This will be due to all the problems reliance on AI caused.
+1👍
,,, with AI taking over the clear road ahead is a career in crime. Get involved at your local Democrat Party office.
What a different world the younger generations are coming into. I truly fear what sort of world my daughters will be left with after my wife and i are gone.
This article is a joke. No one is fleeing data science and other STEM related fields. What is being questioned are former DEI, health care “policy”, HR, and other woke compliance jobs that were artificially paid for by democrap forced policies.
The next generation is so tied to their phones, with AI already substituting for their thinking, that such skills may only be developed with tech-free classrooms followed by some form of higher ed that forces the actual reading of hard-copy books.
I doubt we’ll have many graduates who have developed such intellectual rigor.
WTF is wrong with the Pistons?
Our son is in compensation. He got into it after learning to do heavy spread sheet and data base stuff. I am a retired EE and am proud of how he took to the comp sci field. However, AI can compete with him but I see him running his own business in compensation consulting and he uses AI to do the things he knows how to do, only faster and more efficiently. This is how people need to grow in the AI world. Learn to master the AI input and use the tools that you create to do every job better.
My college suggestion would be to take loads of basic things like math through calculus, science through physics, read the classics in Lit and take a second language. Government and history are valuable as well as law and business.
These things are useful even if you learn a trade which is also a good way to go. And try to find a way to become your own boss Because if you work for a company — like I did — you will probably have more competition from AI.
As a business owner, he is using AI to help with statememets of work and contracts. Something that needs to be similar but slightly modified for each client. I believe he will do OK as AI improves, because his tools will also improve.
I also taught school. AI would change how I develope class experiences for my students, but I can only see that I would improve my classroom technique with AI. So I would not worry. The trick is to keep up with technology, and keep making it better.
😄
I watched the game. The are actually have been broadcasting them on local 4.
To many turnovers.
Bane who I watched many times as a Grizzly when I was staying in Memphis is killing them.
Make sure he scores some breathing protection. A career in welding can be really damaging to the lungs without it.
The crank shaft wasn’t balanced properly, and the.valves need adjusting. The timing needs to be 4 degrees BTC too. If you’re getting excessive gas pressure in the crankcase you may have a broken or improperly spaced ring gaps. Hope we’re talking 327 Chevy, if not, never mind. 😛
My apologies. It’s 4-8 degrees BTDC. I had to look in my manual. Drive careful.
When you say 6 figure is that counting the dollar sign, the decimal point, and the two end zeros? Oh, all most forgot the commas. My bad.
No, that’s not what it means. Having reasonably realistic expectations is.
“it can’t drive a nail” most carpenters don’t drive nails any more; they use a nail gun. They use hammers now for busting lumber bands with the claw portion of the hammer.
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