Are You Obsolete?

"One of the major themes in my book, Thinking With Machines, is that AI is poised to bifurcate humanity. It will amplify those with deep knowledge about something while disempowering others who don't. As a "pracademic" who brought machine learning to Wall Street in the 90s, AI amplified my edge over those who were not aware of its potential. I have continued to use AI to create novel commercial trading strategies since that time."

"But in the new era of modern AI, I am forced to consider whether I am becoming obsolete, both as a practitioner and professor. Many of us should be asking ourselves the same question: how do I stay ahead of the machine? Let's construct a scoreboard for and against my potential obsolescence, starting with the practice side of my pracademic existence."

AI is transforming cognitive work across domains and accelerating tasks that once required years of effort. Deep domain knowledge combined with AI yields amplified human capabilities, while lack of such knowledge risks disempowerment. Modern large language models and self-supervised learning can compress multi-year research and development into days when guided by skilled data scientists who ask the right questions and interpret outputs. Qualifications that mattered historically—decades of market and algorithm experience—remain valuable for framing problems and validating AI outputs. Practitioners and educators face a risk of obsolescence unless they develop skills to work alongside and leverage AI effectively.

Read at Psychology Today