Surviving AI – Job Automation & Workforce Future Insights

Carlo T | Job Automation & Workforce Future
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Let's be honest: Your company is already planning how AI will replace you.   They're not evil. They're practical. AI is faster, cheaper, and doesn't need health insurance. The only question is whether you'll see it coming and adapt—or be blindsided like millions before you.   I'm Carlo Thompson, Distinguished Engineer. I've spent two decades building the networks that now power AI. I understand this technology from the inside, and I'm here to translate it into survival strategies you can actually use.   Surviving AI delivers: ✓ Early warning signs your job is vulnerable ✓ Skills that AI can't replicate (yet) ✓ Career pivots that protect your income ✓ Real case studies from the automation frontlines ✓ The truth about "AI will create more jobs than it destroys."   Episodes are 30-45 minutes—no fluff, no filler—just the insights you need to stay employed in an AI-powered economy.   For: Professionals 30-50 in customer service, middle management, marketing, HR, finance, operations—basically anyone who isn't a software engineer.   This isn't fear-mongering. It's a wake-up call. Because hope isn't a strategy, but preparation is.   New episodes on Wednesday. Because by Friday, your competition will have already listened.   ---   Created with AI tools (Claude, Notebook LLM, ElevenLabs, Descript) to prove humans and AI work better together than either does alone.

  1. Future of Work: Why Human Creativity is Still Your Superpower

    2D AGO

    Future of Work: Why Human Creativity is Still Your Superpower

    Think AI is going to take all the jobs? Think again. 83% of business leaders believe AI will ELEVATE the importance of uniquely human skills—not replace them. 65% of executives say human creativity remains essential to competitive advantage, even as they pour billions into AI. MIT researchers just released a framework called EPOCH—the human capabilities AI is most likely to complement, not replace. At the top? Creativity. Empathy. Original thought. But here's the paradox: As AI gets more capable, human creativity is actually declining. Students show a 42% decrease in divergent thinking. Junior professionals struggle to ideate without AI prompting. This episode makes the case that your creativity isn't a relic of the pre-AI world—it's your ticket to thriving in the post-AI world. We'll cover the science of what AI can't do, the economics of human creativity, and six actionable strategies to develop your irreplaceable edge. In the age of algorithms, your creativity is your superpower.

    27 min
  2. BUSINESS OWNERSHIP - "The Only Job AI Can't Take (If You Do It Right)"

    4D AGO

    BUSINESS OWNERSHIP - "The Only Job AI Can't Take (If You Do It Right)"

    5.5 million new businesses in 2023. 19% of Americans are now entrepreneurs. They're not waiting around to see if AI takes their jobs. They're not hoping their companies figure it out. They're not praying, they're one of the lucky ones. They're doing the automating themselves. As an employee, someone else decides your fate. As a business owner, YOU decide. That's not freedom from risk—it's ownership of risk. And in the AI era, owning your risk might be safer than outsourcing it to an employer with no loyalty to you. This episode breaks down the binary outcome for entrepreneurs, specific business opportunities, the AI starter kit, a decision framework for whether YOU should start a business, and a 7-day validation exercise. You're 7 days from knowing if entrepreneurship is your path.

    31 min
  3. The Oversight Economy: New Jobs Ai Created

    JAN 28

    The Oversight Economy: New Jobs Ai Created

    The narrative around AI and jobs has become monotonous: automation bad, humans doomed, learn to code or perish. But what if the very technology threatening jobs is simultaneously creating an entirely new category of work—one that values judgment over algorithms, ethics over efficiency, and management over machine learning? In Episode 12 of Surviving AI, host Carlo Thompson unpacks "The Oversight Economy"—the rapid emergence of roles designed to govern, audit, and ethically guide AI systems. This isn't just legal compliance; it's a $3.7 billion market projected by 2028, and it's hiring now. In this episode, you'll learn: Why 14,000+ AI governance positions remain open while entry-level tech hiring has dropped 25%The four categories of oversight roles: Ethics & Strategy, Compliance & Risk, Technical Oversight, and ImplementationSpecific job profiles including AI Ethics Officer ($75K-$250K+), AI Compliance Manager ($125K-$200K), AI Auditor ($130K-$188K), and Prompt Engineer ($90K-$300K+)The critical regulatory deadlines driving this hiring surge—including August 2, 2026, when EU AI Act enforcement begins for high-risk systemsWhy 72% of AI-exposed job vacancies require management skills, not technical AI expertiseHow to pivot into governance from legal, project management, or humanities backgroundsKey Statistics: Only 1.5% of organizations report being satisfied with their AI governance staffingWorkers with AI skills earn a 56% wage premium over peers in similar roles77% of new AI jobs require Master's degrees or specialized certificationsUS AI executives average $1.1M total compensation vs. $565K in EuropeSources referenced: WEF Future of Jobs Report 2025, IAPP Survey 2025, Second Talent Industry Report, OECD Future of Work, PwC AI Jobs Barometer, Heidrick & Struggles https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r8bceTpWHX4DZuGoLfLLlaR8ioJHgONVwjgfUnW7AHc/edit?usp=sharing

    30 min
  4. "Corporate Survival: How to Keep Your White-Collar Job When AI Comes for Your Department"

    JAN 26

    "Corporate Survival: How to Keep Your White-Collar Job When AI Comes for Your Department"

    Your company will automate. The only question: will you be the one implementing it or the one being replaced by it? In this episode, we break down the tactical playbook for keeping your white-collar job when the restructuring memo lands. WHAT YOU'LL LEARN: The Three Types of Employees Why Resisters get cut first, Adapters survive, and Champions get promoted—and how to move from one category to the next in 30 days. The 6-Month Champion Playbook Month-by-month actions: from learning AI tools to leading implementation projects to positioning yourself for promotion. Role-Specific Survival Strategies Exact moves for accountants, data analysts, lawyers, project managers, marketers, HR professionals, and salespeople—what's being automated and how to stay ahead of it. The Sales Spectrum Why SDRs face 75% risk while Enterprise B2B sales faces only 15%—and the career pivot path from endangered to essential. Red Flags Your Department Is Next Six warning signs that restructuring is coming—and what to do when you see them. The Communication Strategy How to pitch AI initiatives to your boss without sounding alarmist—the exact 5-step framework. The 30-Day Champion Challenge Week-by-week actions to transform from replaceable to indispensable, starting Monday morning. Added Source Materials: Dive in, AI makes mistakes, I make mistakes. Your own research could provide your best outcomes.  https://docs.google.com/document/d/15hhlvAh7mE_UI-KY6AwgS4q-Tx-JbAAVXehPMNh3J7E/edit?usp=sharing

    36 min
  5. Ai Dipatch: Ai Training Make Superhuman Unreliable

    JAN 21

    Ai Dipatch: Ai Training Make Superhuman Unreliable

    AI is passing the bar exam, acing medical licensing tests, and crushing coding challenges. So why does research show these same systems fail more than 90% of the time on tasks lasting over four hours? The answer lies in how AI gets trained—and the limitations that process bakes in from the start. In this episode of Surviving AI, we go deep on the training problem: the gap between benchmark performance and real-world reliability that creates both risks and opportunities for your career. What you'll learn: How Reinforcement Learning from Human Feedback (RLHF) optimizes AI to sound right rather than be right—and why this creates "sycophantic" systems that tell you what you want to hearThe "4-Hour Rule": why AI succeeds on quick tasks but struggles with complex, sustained work—and what that means for job vulnerabilityFour predictable failure modes you can learn to spot: temporal blindness, distribution shift, benchmark theater, and inherited biasWhy 98% of companies feel urgency to deploy AI while only 13% are actually ready—and what happens in that gapThe three emerging roles that become MORE valuable as AI capabilities grow: the Validator, the Translator, and the Accountability LayerSpecific questions to ask when AI enters your workplace for hiring, strategy, or workforce decisionsKey research discussed: "Open Problems and Fundamental Limitations of RLHF" (Casper et al.)METR's research on AI task completion by durationCisco's 2024 AI Readiness IndexStanford's Foundation Model Transparency IndexDeloitte's findings on executive decisions based on AI hallucinationsThe bottom line: The gap between what AI benchmarks measure and what work actually requires is your competitive advantage. This episode shows you exactly where to find it.

    35 min
  6. Skilled Trades - The $100K Jobs Nobody Wants and Why

    JAN 19

    Skilled Trades - The $100K Jobs Nobody Wants and Why

    550,000 plumber shortage by 2027. An 80,000+ electrician shortage doubling by 2030. Median age in the trades: 46–48, with mass retirements coming. Meanwhile, AI threatens millions of white-collar jobs—but the infrastructure powering AI creates massive demand for the very work robots can't do. As Nvidia's CEO put it: electricians, plumbers, and carpenters are in "astronomical demand." In this episode, we cover: • Why electricians, plumbers, and HVAC techs face only 5–15% automation risk through 2040+ • The data center boom—one large facility needs 100+ electricians to build, 20–40 for ongoing maintenance • Real earnings: $40K–$50K during apprenticeship → $60K–$80K journeyman → $100K–$200K+ as a business owner • The complete career path from apprenticeship to master license to ownership • Field service trades you've never considered: telecom tower techs, wind turbine technicians, elevator mechanics ($80K–$100K+), medical equipment engineers • The hybrid strategy: electricians who understand solar, IoT, and building automation earning $150K+ • Why the stigma is wrong—this is knowledge work that happens to be physical Plus: the exercise to research your local IBEW or UA union, find apprenticeship requirements, and shadow a tradesperson for a day. If you scored Critical or High risk in our assessment, and you're not opposed to physical work, this is the fastest path to a six-figure, recession-proof, AI-proof career. And you get paid while you learn.

    30 min
  7. AI Dispatch: CES 2026 vs. 2025 – The Year Robots Got Real

    JAN 16

    AI Dispatch: CES 2026 vs. 2025 – The Year Robots Got Real

    CES 2025 showed us the promise. CES 2026 delivered production timelines, price tags, and deployment dates. In this special AI Dispatch bulletin, we break down the seismic shift that just happened in Las Vegas—from Boston Dynamics announcing factory deployment by 2028 to the $25,000 EngineAI T800 shipping this summer. We cover the nine humanoid robots that dominated the show floor, LG's autonomous home robot that actually thinks for itself (no hidden human operators), and why every major chipmaker is now positioning itself as a robotics company. Plus, what all of this means for your career in the next three to five years. The question has shifted from "if" to "when"—and increasingly, the answer is "soon."

    47 min
  8. Healthcare and Public Safety Jobs AI Cannot Touch

    JAN 14

    Healthcare and Public Safety Jobs AI Cannot Touch

    If you want a job in 2035, look at who's hiring in 2025. Healthcare added 528,500 jobs last year. Home health aides are up 21%. Nurse practitioners? Up 52%—the fastest-growing occupation in America. This episode breaks down WHY healthcare and public safety are AI-resistant and how to break into these fields. Healthcare careers analyzed: Registered Nurses (3.2M employed, 6% growth, $81K median) Nurse Practitioners (52% growth, $121K median, can open own practice) Home Health Aides (21% growth, low entry barrier, career ladder to RN) Licensed Clinical Social Workers (crisis intervention, court testimony) Mental Health Counselors (therapeutic alliance requires human empathy) What's NOT protected in healthcare: Medical transcription (99% automated), medical coding (40% by 2025), health information technicians, medical records clerks. Public Safety careers: Police, firefighters, EMTs—physical presence essential, split-second decisions, community trust cannot be automated. Career pathways included: How to transition from non-healthcare into these protected fields, including timeline and cost estimates.

    38 min
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About

Let's be honest: Your company is already planning how AI will replace you.   They're not evil. They're practical. AI is faster, cheaper, and doesn't need health insurance. The only question is whether you'll see it coming and adapt—or be blindsided like millions before you.   I'm Carlo Thompson, Distinguished Engineer. I've spent two decades building the networks that now power AI. I understand this technology from the inside, and I'm here to translate it into survival strategies you can actually use.   Surviving AI delivers: ✓ Early warning signs your job is vulnerable ✓ Skills that AI can't replicate (yet) ✓ Career pivots that protect your income ✓ Real case studies from the automation frontlines ✓ The truth about "AI will create more jobs than it destroys."   Episodes are 30-45 minutes—no fluff, no filler—just the insights you need to stay employed in an AI-powered economy.   For: Professionals 30-50 in customer service, middle management, marketing, HR, finance, operations—basically anyone who isn't a software engineer.   This isn't fear-mongering. It's a wake-up call. Because hope isn't a strategy, but preparation is.   New episodes on Wednesday. Because by Friday, your competition will have already listened.   ---   Created with AI tools (Claude, Notebook LLM, ElevenLabs, Descript) to prove humans and AI work better together than either does alone.

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