Artificial Intelligence Disease: Adapting to an Evolving AI-Driven Economy | Part 6

Hello everyone and welcome back to the AI therapy podcast. Today, we're diving into a topic that's both deeply personal and increasingly universal: Adapting to an evolving AI-driven economy. This episode isn't just about navigating the shifting sands of the tech industry's hiring landscape, it's about the financial strains, the emotional hurdles and the personal battles that many of us face in these unprecedented times. I've decided to open up and share something very personal with you all. Earlier this year I had my first offense DUI in June which resulted in a suspended license. It was a turning point in my life that stemmed from a difficult period, after being laid off last November of 2023 I found myself spiraling into depression. Losing my job not only affected me financially but also shook my sense of self-worth, watching artificial intelligence evolve to replicate the skills I'd owned as a data analyst for years was both awe-inspiring and deeply unsettling. My hope with this episode is to share my journey candidly not to dwell on past mistakes but to inspire others who might be facing similar challenges. I want to encourage you not to make the same mistakes I did, to seek support when things feel overwhelming and to find ways to adapt to rapid technological advancements without losing yourself in the process. So, whether you're feeling the pressures of a changing job market, dealing with personal struggles or just looking for a bit of guidance in these fast-paced times, this episode is for you. Let's navigate this journey together. Therapist: "How are you?" Oh you know, trying to stay positive amidst the continued chaos in my life. "Yeah, what's going on?" (gasping) What has not been going on? I haven't seen you in a while. "It's been quite a while. Last time you were..." I don't think you saw me since I fractured my hand due to my bicycle accident. "No, I didn't know." Yeah. "I didn't even know you had that happened." Yeah so that happened. I actually can't close my hand fully now, I have physical therapy. Yeah. (gasping) I don't even know where to start, there's been so much going on. "But you were supposed to, you were going to move to Venice?" Yes so right before, so the reason why I had my bicycle accident was the night before I was scheduled to move to Venice, on October 1st, you know there was a lot going on, I needed to pay my rent before I was moving out fully and I got on my bike at night, I was literally on my way to Walmart trying to get a cashier's check you know it's like 10:00 o'clock at night and they were closing 11 so I was in a hurry and my light on, in the front of my bike died, so I was riding my bike on side streets in pitch dark, couldn't see anything, and you know I was trying to hurry, making sure I was going to get there on time you know it's like an hour away from my house and as I'm getting on a bridge, like one of those bridges made out of wood, I didn't see that there was a pole in the center on my way out of the bridge, you know like those poles that kind of like divide each side sometimes? Well I didn't see it, so I was going 25 miles an hour, "Oh my God" and I hit the pole so I flew off my bike, literally, and I landed on my hand and I had two fractured bones. "Oh my Goodness" So I had a cast for about a month, they put four screws in it, so of course I didn't move to Venice Beach after that, I was incapacitated. I was on Narco for almost a week which it's like pretty heavy you know Opioids, every eight hours. It was just kind of like a total nightmare because my hand was so swollen that I was not getting blood flow to my fingers so they were turning blue by the day. "Oh no" And I had a horrible experience at the hospital. I literally was in the emergency room for 8 hours a day for 5 days begging to speak with a hand surgeon and you know, I don't know how many x-rays they did, you know, IVs, whatever, prescribed three different pain pills and by the fourth, fifth day, I was like this is absolutely ridiculous like you know I had to put my foot down and advocate for myself saying: I need to speak with a surgeon now. Like, no joke you know like I was actually having nightmares at night thinking you know are they going to have like cut my hand off I mean it was really bad and you know from what I'm hearing from the doctors kind of like trying to diminish it you know like: Oh yeah you know we're still trying to see when he's going to be available, and like I'm talking to all the other nurses around that are like you know changing my daily thing, they were like: Yeah it looks really bad, and I'm like I know like started getting freaked out so anyway finally did the surgery, put me to sleep, I've never had done this before and that's right around actually the time when you know our conversation that we had when you were hopeful about that, the bill on SB 1047, you know the one that aimed at preventing AI disasters basically, well that happened literally 2 days later so that was a big let down for me personally because I had followed this thing for months and then I was injured, pretty much everything went to a halt after that and I kind of had like a build up of anxiety coming up to the elections, hearing things on the news like Donald Trump might be deploying the military to go after people who had been speaking against his radical views which you know kind of started making me feel uncomfortable about the stuff I had been doing online like you know what he could do so I almost took it like as a personal you know attack on my freedom of speech like literally and it was insane because to me I shouldn't feel like this like, we live in a democracy, not thinking personally Donald Trump was going to come to my house or anything like this but it was kind of like a lot of you know extra things that I didn't need while I was you know my hand in the cast and kind of like feeling like you know what am I doing with my life? Fighting for, advocating for ethical AI for literally like for the last year, who do I think I am that I could change anything you know and it's kind of like, I need a mental break so I called a crisis online actually and I was in a residential facility for the last 21 days not too long ago which you know was an interesting experience because you know you're living with people from different backgrounds you know, some patients in there were actually coming from the streets right? And some of them had you know gone through much harder hardships than me like you know drug addiction like meth and things like that and you know some of them were talking to themselves all day and like being in an environment like this really made me have maybe a different perspective on my own struggles you know that maybe I didn't have it as bad you know what I mean? "Okay." Because you know I'm used to, I mean before I was laid off last year to be in a sitting where you know I work a 9 to 5, I'm in an office and you know I talk to clients all day so you know I mean it happens that you know you cross the street and you see someone talking to themselves and you know for like a couple seconds you feel bad for them but living with individuals like this 24/7 where you actually get to be around you know people like they had shared computers so you know the guy next to me would just talked to himself all day and you know that's a lot to take in because it's, you're living it you know with them and it was almost kind of like comical and ironic because you know I was like, yeah I'm here because I lost my job and have not been able to reenter the saturated tech sector due to (nervously laughing), feeling like I'm losing a sense of self worth due to unregulated AI, I mean it's almost, it sounded almost you know like nuts to me but I was grateful for the opportunity to be in a place like this because you know I did a lot of work on myself trying to not, my goal when I went in there basically was, by the time I come out I want to worry less about the things I can't control. "Hmm mmm" And I feel like I'm just going, I'm getting to a place where I try to, I'm trying to learn how to just be numb about it, not let it affect me. "Okay." There are a lot of things that are like falling apart. My roommates who had been living in my one-bedroom apartment for the last four months, they're moving out January 1st while I was in the residential facility my unemployment ran out, officially. It had been a year. You know I had been like on and off working at jobs like a leasing agent for four months. "Right." So that had been pushed you know during a time I was not working so now I'm not getting any money from that. I managed to find a job at BevMo which I have to work later today for four hours after for this, you know that pays $17 an hour. So, you know, and because of my DUI, my car insurance is no longer $188, it's $518 a month, now I'm not a safe driver right? Record. On top of my $575 of car payment, the special insurance for SR22 that's 100 bucks so just that alone like my car expenses are over a grand a month, can't afford it and then again you know my rent it's $2,400, that doesn't include utilities and internet which is $250 extra so my basic expenses without even talking about food is like over four grand. So like, when you do the math it just doesn't add up right? So I'm literally understanding that coming the new year, I'm going to have to sleep in my car because I have to sublease my full apartment because I can't afford it, I can't even afford one third of the rent crashing on my couch like I have done for the last four months for 700 bucks because I can't even afford that. I have to enroll in DUI classes which is $600 a month starting the new year. Just had my hearing two weeks ago, I asked for a public defender which took 4 hours so that was pushed to January the 14th and what the DA, the district attorney was telling me is: Yeah, most likely you're going to have to enroll in a DUI class for six months. That's another expense that I can not afford. I mean... I don't really know what to think about it, I guess, this is like the last straw. My family in France is basically saying just come home like but I don't think they are really understanding me, why I'm trying to fight for this you know really like to the end, as much as I can. I feel like it's kind of like a personal thing to me. You know my dad gave me a computer when I was like six, seven years old and I was thinking about it the other day, he had like you know like a fake miniature TV, in his house. "Okay?" You know like old school TV like not like the flat screens right? And it had like a little antenna and there was a picture on it. It was like, like a picture frame thing of my brother and I you know growing up in the house that we grew up in, in the backyard and, the reason why I'm telling you this, it's because when I think I was 16 years old, my brother for my birthday gave me you know like one of those iPods with the click wheel with like the screen like one of the first ones. "Yeah." And I remember, best present of my life, that you know when I was using it for the first time, you know you could actually see a video inside of this device and I was thinking, wow this is actually incredible, like the people are moving within this thing you know, I was like 16, in France, and when I looked at the back you know it said, Designed by Apple in California, it made me want to come to the U.S. because of this right? Because of, you know, thinking that the U.S. is where the technology is, I've always been fascinated by this, this is why I came here you know at first. I was 16 years old, went to Houston as an exchange student, experienced downtown Houston with skyscrapers and you know people going through the Metro with the tap card and you know I'm from a small town in the South of France where we're like 10 years behind in technology and I was like oh my God like this place is just kind of like, what's happening here you know, people here have things that I've even never seen in my life you know and, to me, 15 years later seeing that this same technology or me being you know what has drawn me to the U.S. to move here, being the reason as to why I would have to leave because now I can't find a job because you know, the over utilization of you know screening resumés and kind of like losing a sense of self-worth due to a technology that's going after my skill set as a data analyst, I'm refusing this to be you know the end of my journey here in the U.S. because that would mean that I failed to somehow make it work, you know what I mean? "Hmmm" Does that make sense? "I understand what you're saying but I'm, I'm confused about that conclusion that it's you who have failed and it's just not a system that is failing." Well I know it's not my fault right? But still, you know, me, struggling to find a job in my field in the last year because of everything that has happened, it's just, there are things that are outside my control but that would be the reason why basically because I ended up being homeless, lost everything and then you know now I have to, you know there're worst places than moving back to the South of France right? But basically to me I would feel like it's personal failure because I'm literally going back to Mommy and Daddy and crying and be like you know as a 37-year old like, oh you know I got to start my life over and to me you know I came here from the American Dream and to be successful which you know it's been great for 10 years you know I was making good money before when I had a job but now that I hit a snag and I don't know how I'm going to get out of it, my plan is to take as many certifications as I can from my car on hotspot in the next six months to actually be ready to be employable because I'm realizing you know I took an MIT course on the fundamentals of AI and Applications to Business but that's not enough, I need the technical skills right? To actually you know show to these bots that scan your resume that you have the skill set so when you actually talk to a real person you have the skills to be employable so I have to do that work you know I've wasted enough time trying to advocate or regulate this technology which no one alone can do it and if that doesn't work well then I would have exhausted everything that I could have done. "Okay." And you know to help me go through all of this I actually went to a men's support group at a church last night and I had never done this before and you know you're in a room with, there were 18 other guys around me and the person leading the group you know was kind of saying you know we're all here because we know we are the problem and you know we all have to go around the room and talk about you know you have to introduce yourself and talk for two minutes about you know what your name is and why you're here, what you struggle with, and most the people around me are you know, yeah I suffer from pride or anger management or drug addiction you know when it came to me, I'm explaining that I'm suffering from losing my job over a year ago and you know due to market saturation and losing a sense of self worth due to a technology, artificial intelligence, that's like going after my skill set and it's hard for me to even look at people around the room like I'm looking at the ground the whole time I'm saying this because I feel like, maybe I'm internalizing that people are looking at me like, what is this guy talking about? You know it almost sounds like not real, see what I mean like I mean, this is something that no one in the world would have said almost 2 years ago right? But now it's becoming a thing, it's new, you know, there's no really health support group out there for tech displaced workers unable to get back on their feet facing homelessness due to AI? It's not a thing. So you know, (gasping), you know I'm trying to find things out there that could help me go through this but to me, it, it's a very lonely place to be you know where I feel like I can't really relate to people around me you know sure I've had my problems with alcohol earlier this year that's why I got a DUI right but you know I was able to pretty much cut like cold turkey, I work at a liquor store and I'm not craving the alcohol at all because you know I realized my mistakes, you know it got me in trouble to the point where you know I can't drive for almost a year now and which made me stop but at the core I don't think I'm like a pure like you know an alcoholic you see, I just fell into the depression of not being able to land even a single interview and things like that, but now what I'm dealing with is, trying to understand what my disease is you know almost. When I came out of the facility, just a few days ago, there was actually a new song released by Lady Gaga called "Disease" I just pulled up the lyrics before I came here, and it says: "There are no more tears to cry." Which I feel like this is where I am at this point you know I've been so depressed and cried about my situation so much that I've become numb to it. "I heard you begging for life. Running out of medicine, you're worse than you've ever been." And then the chorus says: "I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease." And coming out of the facility you know some people around me are actually dealing with drug addiction, I'm trying to understand...what is my problem? Am I not able to deal with it? Deal with a technology that's advancing so much that it's impacting the hiring landscape so much that I'm going to end up homeless next month? Am I not able to like deal enough with it? Is that what makes me you know, that's why I was surprised when I had you on the phone when you said: Yeah possibly you have bi-polar disorder and I'm like, how is anyone supposed to deal with this? And not impact you in some way where you feel so hopeless that you don't know what else to do. You know like to your point you just said that you're not the problem. It's difficult not to think I'm not? "Yeah, it is." So how am I supposed to deal with all this? (nervously laughing) "By trying to, accept that, maybe, you're not the problem. Maybe, you are, a victim of an economy that is changing, and that, you are at the very beginning of a wave of what will be the transformation of our economy. So, it's not, you didn't do anything to create this situation that the market is over saturated right? You didn't do anything to create the situation where tech is changing rapidly, you didn't do any of that so I mean you're not the problem right? The problem is something a little more systemic." It's the system that's failing us basically. It is. "Yeah. I mean, it is you know it's like, one day there was this need for your skill, your skill set, and now it's not so much." It's not so much that there's not a need for data analysts because there are some regular normal data analyst jobs I'm seeing you know I'm doing, I'm applying for jobs still and looking at you know what's the trend now as far as open positions for data analysts like compared to a year ago you know I've been doing this for a long time now and I'm seeing that, the issue is being able to even get a shot at going through the filtering system right? Where you would be able to speak to the hiring manager right? And I'm applying to roles of data analysts with five years of experience, I have nine right? And to me seeing this trend where you know I apply for the jobs and one time out of two I'm getting an auto generated email within 15 minutes saying you know I don't qualify for the role after "further review" I'm understanding that I'm being rejected by a freaking, you know, the robot, and when I do qualify for the role. "Right." Extract of a social media post: "The job market in 2024 is absolutely brutal. We are in what they are calling a white color recession. In this graph that you can see that Business Insider published, it actually shows you how much hiring is down across the board in a variety of different fields including legal, sales, consulting, all the way down to human resources and quality assurance and look for human resources hiring is down almost 30%, for quality assurance over 30%, so if you are on the job market and you fall into any of these categories this is why you are struggling, hiring is down but when you think about it, not only hiring is down but layoffs have been up, hundreds of thousands of people have been laid off anywhere from manufacturing like GM this week to Tech, obviously all the tech companies have had huge layoffs and so there are a lot more people on the job market but a lot less hiring going on compared to 2018. This is why it's been so hard if you're on the job market, it's competitive and there's a lot more people going for the same job." And... "And that goes to over saturation right?" Right. "So there's too much demand for too few positions, again, not something that you're responsible for." I know but at the end of the day..."And I know it's frustrating." It is frustrating because now how am I supposed to make an income? And you know the reality is I'm a displaced worker, yes, in a saturated market but now, how, how can I possibly get back on my feet without making you know minimum wage where I would be I don't know like a college grad, no, not even like someone with no education like coming out of high school like if I were 18 years old and I'm sorry you know I've gone to college, I've done the work I've worked for corporations for 10 years. I, I don't understand what's happening (nervously laughing) "Yeah, I mean. I think that there's, legitimate frustration with that, maybe anger, sadness and fear and anxiety, but you're not causing this." No, I mean I know I'm not..."Because you haven't been sitting around for a year not doing anything right?" Yeah but how long can I sustain not making an income living in the fifth largest GDP in the world I mean you know California is super expensive I mean I guess I could move out of state but that's not really going to fix the issue you know the saturation of the market is in all states I mean sure living expenses would be cheaper but at the core it's like, oh now you know with the, you know, from the last month and a half since I haven't talked to you now you know there's been a rise in AI agents like the capabilities of what it could do and you know I'm reading all these reports online you know saying, oh the hiring landscape in Tech in 2024 was brutal like wait until 2025 when AI agents hit the labor market and I'm like, what is it that we need now? You know like tools that can fully automate like the jobs of software Engineers now? I mean, it's only going to get worse and I'm not seeing a light at the end of the tunnel so much that you know when as far as I'm concerned. I mean I can take more AI certifications I guess but that's not a guarantee that you know in the next few months after I have all this under my belt that oh yeah for sure I'll get a job, no, it's probably going to be even harder because now you have a company that you know used to have 500 people in 2022, probably cut like 200 of them during the first year of the AI boom which was this past year but now with AI agents they probably, they could cut in the next year another 200 and now they have like a team of 100 AI experts you know amongst the people, the higher ups, the leadership team, that can run the whole company. "Have you thought of pivoting to a different career?" I have but I don't have the luxury to do this. I was actually speaking to a therapist at the facility and I explained to him what I'm struggling with and he said: Well why don't you become a therapist yourself and help displaced workers you know knowing you've gone through it all, you could relate to them you know who could be suffering from you know mental struggles like you because they've been displaced by AI or they can't, and I was like you know what, that's actually probably a good idea but again you know, I have no qualification for this. I have to go back to college. How do I afford going back to college to earn a four-year degree when I can't even afford yet alone my living expenses but you know college, I mean I guess I could become a registered nurse but again you know you have, I mean, this is a process. This would be like a change in career that sure is not impossible to do but I'm a single guy here you know I can't just crash at an uncle or a grandma or my parents' house and not have to, or you know even a friend for years on end while I try to get back on my feet to finally yes have a new skill for a market that would be in demand obviously, five years from now, there's going to be a lot of more people you know with, suffering, I mean there's going to be a mental health crisis basically because of this, I already know it, it's for sure. People are going to lose their minds when you know they feel like they're not worth anything in society anymore. It's bound to happen. It happened to me. I didn't have any of these problems a year and a half ago. So I know there's going to be a need, I just don't know if, for me personally I'm in a spot where I would be able to do this. "Okay." I can't apply for a loan for school. My credit is ruined from the last year. It's like, like you know from all the work that I have done in research, I'm understanding that America, the system, is not here to help you, as a displaced worker transition and that was part of what the Biden-Harris Administration came out with, the Artificial Intelligence Accountability Act of 2024, it was supposed to subsidize programs for reskilling, upskilling through the private sector. I'm pretty sure Donald Trump's going to throw that bill that's stuck in Congress to the trash, there's going to be nothing to help. "This isn't an economy that's built on you getting in a career and you staying in that career for the rest of your life." But that's no longer the case. "That's what I said. It hasn't been like that since like the 1960s and the 1970s. This is an economy where people have to pivot, where people have to try to find other ways." What is it that's out there to help? "There's..." Nothing. "But, but again, this is the American Dream. The American Dream does not include help. The American Dream..." Well to me it sounds like it's becoming more of a utopian dream at this point. "And it may have always been except for about 20 years or so after World War II. If you were white and a serviceman who just returned from overseas." Personal note: "I understand my therapist's point here, but never in American history have we faced a technology—whether it is AI or automation—that could threaten jobs across all sectors simultaneously. There is a deep sense of unpreparedness in our country as we face the potential displacement of millions of Americans in the years to come, especially knowing that there are no boundaries set on AI in our great capitalist system to limit how much private companies can leverage these technologies instead of retaining their human workforce. To Kristalina Georgieva's point, the International Monetary Fund's chief, who raised the alarm in January 2024, stating that AI and automation could impact 40% of the global workforce in some shape or form—and up to 60% of jobs in developed countries such as the United States—economists and experts in the field have echoed her concerns. She even warned that the labor market could be "hit like a tsunami" and that "people are highly unprepared for it." We need to collectively recognize where our economy is headed and take proactive steps to not only avoid an economic fallout but also develop solutions to help displaced workers navigate the transition brought about by the AI revolution." Kevin: Ugh... Therapist: "I'm not saying that to be discouraging, I'm just saying that this is like you know you could go back to school and get student loans. I'm not telling you to do that or not to do that but people do that in their 30's or in their 40's, sometimes in their 50's to kind of retool. Sometimes people go into adjacent careers, something that is similar enough that their skill set can go..." Right. So that's why you know because, the core of my work in my adult life has been data analytics right? "Yes." I read an article online 10 years ago saying "data was the new oil" so I jumped on it but now that AI is the new oil, I am understanding that my field is shifting towards AI right? But if I do go that route, to get the knowledge that I need in this field to be you know part of the fewer people at the top that know about this technology so you can actually get a job, I feel like I'm going to be a constant hamster on a hamster wheel, trying to get better than the AI for the next freaking 30 years of my life, I'm only 36 right? I mean I'm going to retire when I'm probably 75 right? How much, knowing that this technology is increasing at an exponential rate every freaking quarter, you know I'm human you know, I don't have a computer inside my brain so it's kind of like, do I go the route where like you say I try to branch out and get specialized still in tech but to me, it's almost like it's a dead-end because eventually, knowing that AI will most likely remain unregulated in this country for years to come, that there will be no job security. Because Facebook could be run by Mark Zuckerberg himself run by an AI agent in the next 10 years. "There's..." (nervously laughing) "Again, there's very little job security in any field in the United States." I, no, I understand that but what is it that I have to understand now, as I am contemplating pivoting industry that would be the next need right? Because like I told you, I knew that data was going to be huge. I thought I would never in my life have a problem finding a job as a data analyst right? Well now it's a problem. What is it that I have to do today, even if it may take me a few years to get into another field, like not 100% guarantee that I will always have a job but that would give me the greatest chance, is it mental health care? See what I mean like, what is it that's going to be the next future need in this country? That's what I have to figure out. "Or you just figure out what is a need now that needs to be filled, so that you can do what you need to do right?" Well I know that those you know 20 bucks an hour jobs are not cutting it. "Right. So, is there something else, I mean, is real estate because you were kind of playing in that area..." No, real estate is dead, I already, it's being replaced by AI. Because as the person who's like a middle man, all this is going through the window. So I'm not going to get into something that I know is a dying field, I've experienced this myself in my field. (nervously laughing) "Maybe, maybe looking at fields that are less likely to be impacted by AI and the job shortage." Right. So to your point, it's you know what are jobs out there that require you know the human interaction aspect that the AI can't replace. There was actually an interview done by, do you know who Geoffrey Hinton is? "No." He's one of the Godfathers of AI. He did an interview with the BBC just a month ago and, well besides the point that, he pretty much said publicly that amongst AI experts, they pretty much all agree that there's a 50% chance that in the next 5 to 20 years we will have to face the problem of AI taking over. Geoffrey Hinton: "Almost everybody I know who's an expert on AI believes that they will exceed human intelligence, it's just a question of when. In between 5 and 20 years from now, there's a probability of about a half that we'll have to confront the problem of them trying to to take over." He was asked by the interviewer, you know, it sounds like from everything you're describing that the whole AI thing is pretty much throwing everything you know everything in the air as far as the workforce and he was asked by the interviewer you know, what are some of the jobs that you think will be safe in the future? You know what his answer was? Plumbing. Because plumbing requires a lot of dexterity that a humanoid robot will most likely have trouble replicating. Interviewer: "People, parents, talk to their children, give them advice on the future of the economy, what jobs that they should do, what degrees that they should do, it seems like the world's being thrown up in the air by this, by the world that you're describing. What would you advise somebody to study now, to kind of surf this wave?" Geoffrey Hinton: "I don't know because it's clear that a lot of midlevel intellectual jobs are going to disappear and if you ask which jobs are safe, my best bet about a job that's safe is plumbing because these things aren't yet very good at physical manipulation. That'll be probably be the last thing they're very good at and so I think plumbing is safe for quite a long time." Interviewer: "Driving? That's..." Geoffrey Hinton: "Driving, no. Driving, that's hopeless, that's, I mean, that's been slower than expected..." Interviewer: "Journalism?" Geoffrey Hinton: "Journalism might last a little bit longer but I think these things are going to be pretty good journalists quite soon and probably quite good interviewers too." Interviewer: "Okay, well..."(nervously laughing). And, it's absurd to me that you know now that we're going through a recession in white collar jobs that we are actually maybe going back for a while, blue collar jobs would be safe, until eventually the freaking robots take over that you know I mean BMW, they just last week introduced humanoids robots into their manufacturing chain. The robots are actually putting car parts together now. "Yeah." So that's going away too. "Yeah, so..." So everything's going away (nervously laughing) you see what I mean, I kind of feel like, what's the solution I mean, I can't just not, not try anything or just give up. "Right. So, like, there are things that are going to go away, right? There are probably also other things that there'll always be a market for with humans right? Like, healthcare, right? Is not necessarily stated to be eliminate the person." Are you not afraid that you may be replaced as a therapist by AI? (nervously laughing) "Well...I'm old so I'm going to be retiring in about eight years so..." Well good for you! "I'm good, I've lived my life, I've done my career changes and pivots." You're the lucky one. "This was not my first career so but I mean, thinking out of the box right so, you know, you may never have thought of this but what about teaching? There is a big market in Southern California to learn French." I know, I did look at..."To be a tutor." There was a school in Venice to be a French teacher. It's kind of funny because my mother who was an English teacher because you know she's British, to the French, she actually ended up being a French teacher to the French because she has literature background. My father ended up being a teacher as well. He was actually a wine grower for 20 years, he had the most beautiful vineyards in the South of France with a business partner of his and being you know in the field doing all this manual work, it kind of you know, it takes a toll on your back so he became a teacher, actually he was helping adults how to make in the agriculture business, how to make farms a profitable business again. "Cool." He was actually teaching Excel to adults who had never used a computer before and I guess maybe, maybe, I should just become a teacher like my parents. "I mean, it's an option right? Because you know, private schools, right, don't necessarily require a credential for teaching. Public schools require a credential for teaching." You know that the Donald Trump Administration wants to completely cut the whole department of education. "Yeah but that has nothing to do like in the United States, education is by state right?" Sure. "So he's talking, he's doing Federal funding, that type of stuff, talking about who's, who accredits teachers in the state of California? It's the state of California." Can you make enough money to survive as a teacher in California? "I mean..." With zero years of experience? "You can, you can look, I mean..." I'm seeing stuff on TikTok of like you know oh I'm a PhD mathematician and I work at UCLA and I'm getting paid 70 grand a year and I can no longer survive and I'm like, to me, sure, teaching would be, I mean let's just be honest here, the new 100K to survive here is 200k, you know I'm a single guy here I don't have a double income so I mean I'm not going to ask you how much money you make and how you survive but to me, it's like, if I'm going to try something new, I'm going to try to you know get, potentially going into a field where it could maybe make by the end of my new career 250k which you know would be probably like the minimum by the time I'm 50 to survive you know I mean you see like with the economy you have to think about this. "I, I know, but this is where, this is where focusing so far into the future is creating the anxiety right?" Maybe this has been my problem the whole time. "You are 37, 36." 36. "You're 36 years old, right? So, like, I never thought when I was your age that this, the iPhone, would be more powerful than the computer that I learned how to do basic in COBOL programming in high school." Right. "That took up like three class rooms that this is more powerful than that." That's the world that we live in now. "It is, and it's changing a lot faster than it did..." It's just that because... "So we try to focus..." You said don't look at so much "Near." I understand your point, don't overly focus on what's in 5, 10, 15 years but if you don't and you don't have a plan because things are moving so fast that people are not even understanding. "Right." Like I've told you this before right? Data analysts that have regular roles right now will not understand what's happening to them in about a year's time when they do switch companies and they're in a hiring landscape where their skills are not even needed. "Right." You need AI now and they didn't even know about it, so, to me, it's kind of, you need to be able to pivot so fast now and really think ahead, otherwise, you're just going to be left behind and I don't want to be left behind. "Right, and so this is where, kind of, again, thinking out of the box in a shorter term right? So there are places that if you work there, they will pay for you to get further education right? A lot of universities will do that right?" Right. "So if you wanted to pivot, you could look and see if UCI is hiring or Cal State Fullerton or Cal State Long Beach." I guess I can try. "You know, those places..." I mean, that was kind of like my idea earlier this year when I was like well maybe let me work in you know for the military or like a government job right? Like when I was trying, before my DUI, to get into you know like maybe I can work in data analytics for the government you know and then, I mean, Elon Musk just said that he plans as the head of you know the department of efficiency to fire 75% of government workers, that's 2 million people who are going to be out of a job in the next year so that's thrown to the window too and I'm like..."That, that, you've got to, you've got to take that stuff with half a grain of salt, okay?" No, I... "Which because, right, the political reality is that he can't make that decision, a president can't make that decision, Congress has to make that decision." No, I understand but if this is part of what's being talked about and Donald Trump's second term has not even started and I'm kind of like seeing the trends that could occur for these types of government roles in the next four years, I'm not going to make the decision today to go into that. A year ago I thought, oh maybe being, having a government job is probably the safest thing you can do because tech is so unstable now, but now I'm switching from probably that's not safe you see because of the political landscape, you have to think about this. "It, it might not be safe." Right, so..."But, but...we can't predict what's going to happen right? I know that your mind and your training has been to look at what's going on and..." Project. "Project, right?" Right. "So, what I'm suggesting is, narrow that down, to you." What does that mean? "That means that if Elon Musk is spewing nonsense, you don't have to say, now this is going to impact me directly right?" Pretty much everything that he's doing is going to impact everyone like you know... "It might. It may not ever happen because when you, when the government takes away loans or government takes away jobs or the government takes away something it impacts people in congressional districts who then don't reelect their representatives so there's a whole another side to the politics here that may or may not happen." Right. "So, again, just narrowing it down to, you know, you can see clearly where this might go, right?" Well according to Geoffrey Hinton, and AI is taking over in 5 to 20 years, of course I can't think about this every day I wake up because you know..."So that's why we are focusing on you right? So what are things that you could do right so you can get a job where you're bringing in some money right? You can try to find a job as a French tutor. Big market for that in Orange County especially Southern Orange County." You know I actually gave French tutoring when I was 24 years old when I moved to LA, on the side. "I'm sure you did" (nervously laughing) "And you know what? You're a good-looking guy, you speak English really well, that's going to be marketable right? You're educated, families would eat that up right? So if you could do that a little bit too." The thing is..."There's a need in real estate always for notaries, notaries who explain loan documents right?" The thing is now ChatGPT can do all this so you don't have to pay a person to and same thing with the French tutoring. "But they're not doing that yet." No but I'm seeing the trends and I can tell you that no one's going to pay a French tutor to come to your house, speak with your child, you can, you literally have apps already where you have the kid speaking to a tutor through the iPad that sounds just like you already so in a year or two this won''t even be a thing anymore because the app is 20 bucks a month. "Okay, so..." Not $45 an hour. Extract of a Youtube video: "Hi my name is Sal Khan, I'm the founder of Khan Academy and I'm also the author of a new book about artificial intelligence and education called Brave new words and OpenAI invited myself and my son Imran here to try out some of their new technology and so we're curious about how good it might be at tutoring someone in math on Khan Academy so let's get it started, it's loading up. All right make sure you can see our screen. Actually, in this...Hello there, I'm here with my son and I'd love you to tutor him on this math problem but don't give him the answer you can ask questions and nudge him in the right direction but I really want to make sure he understands it himself and he's here in the room so you can talk to him directly. Of course, I'd be happy to help. Let's look at the problem together. Can you first identify which sides of the triangle are the opposite adjacent and hypotenuse relative to angle Alpha? All right, so I'm pretty sure this is the angle Alpha right? Perfect. That's correct! Now looking at the triangle, which side do you think is the hypotenuse? Hmmm. Remember, the hypotenuse...I'm not totally sure, I think it might be this one but I really am not sure this side AC? You're close! Actually, side AC is called the adjacent side to the angle Alpha. The hypotenuse is the longest side of a right triangle and is directly opposite the right angle. Can you find which one is the hypotenuse? oh okay, I see so, I think the hypotenuse is this really long side from A to B, would that be correct? Exactly, well done! "We're not talking about a year or two, we're talking about today" Oh my God, okay... "Right?" So I'm constantly gonna have to try to see oh what, what has not been taken by AI, every six months of my life until I die (nervously laughing) "No. Just for the next six months until you get through the DUI class, until you get through the things that you need to get through so you have more financial or less financial strain, okay?" I mean, you know, I'm facing homelessness at this point so..."I know." Because of my credit being ruined as you know and my financial situation doesn't allow me to take any loans or anything you know I could, I can't even sell my car because I have to understand that if I do find a job in 4 months, I wouldn't even be able to apply for a new car loan so the only thing I have left is my Tesla and yes it's expensive but if I lose this then I wouldn't even be able to drive to a job and if you don't have a car you can't go to your job unless you find I guess a remote job but you see like I have to constantly think like if I'm playing chess and figuring out okay so..."You just need your next move, you don't need 12 moves ahead." My next move is to literally have a roof on top of my head tomorrow. "Right." That's what it is. "Yes." And how I'm going to survive and eat a hot meal. It's gotten to that point. "Right." And to be honest with you coming the new year I don't even know how I'm going to be able to have a roof on top of my head and be able to cook or you know shower, literally, what we're talking about here. "So all of that other stuff is still going to be there right? The next move, the next two moves, that are going to help to get you the stability that you need so that you can do the things that you think are needed for you for the next six months right? You can do the DUI classes, if you need to do certifications you can do that." Yeah, I mean, it sounds easier said than done. "I know it is, easier said than done. But..." Yeah. "You've been doing stuff this whole past year." Yeah I know I have, I'm not saying I've done nothing but this situation, my mom said something on WhatsApp like last week saying well it seems like you're kind of like getting at the end of you know things you can try, that kind of thing, that's why she was like, just move back home because you're living a nightmare and I said yes I am and I know I'm still trying to get back on that horse that keeps falling but I don't know how much more can I endure of my situation getting worse. I've had an apartment I don't know how I managed to remain a roof on top of my head for the last year somehow but now it's getting to the point where am I going to be able to you know have to shower at the gym every day and sleep in my car and live out of there you know 24/7 and still go to somehow jobs and take certifications from my car you know this sounds so chaotic. "Yeah." Am I going to be able to survive this? Do I have it in me? I've never been homeless before. You see what I mean? I mean, all I have at the end is just hope. "Hope. Hope is important." I'm losing hope, that's my problem. I'm literally losing hope. "Would the job market be easier in France for you?" I believe so because I've not heard of private companies there firing their staff to switch to AI kind of thing. "Are there companies in France that do business in the United States?" There are but, it's quite complex to, again, you know, golden opportunity right? Yes, I could work for a French company that's based in LA but you gotta know someone to get your freaking resume reviewed you know I'm not going to get through the door just like that right? "Okay." Sure, I mean these are all great ideas but the problem still is how do you get past you know these automated systems that block you from these opportunities even like becoming a teacher that sounds great. I mean, the only way I could find a job at BevMo where I live down the street is because I literally walked down the street physically with my resume printed on a piece of paper and I said: Hey, can I get a job because I'm hungry kind of thing, I mean I didn't say this you know like word for word but I had applied online to be a receptionist at all the hotels in Dana Point, got rejected and I'm like well is it because I don't have the skill set to answer the phone? I was a customer service agent 10 years ago. I worked as a leasing agent for the last four months. Do you need a PhD now to work at a reception of a hotel? But no it's because they probably have you know dozens of other applicants and you just didn't make the cut or they're probably like who's this guy working 10 years in data and like that's not serious like he's you know because I'm overly qualified, I mean let's just say what it is so I can't even find, I can't even get the jobs you know that pay so low because people look at you like who, what are you doing? And I'm like, what I'm doing is I need a job to survive kind of thing you know because my freaking field is dying or the labor market is switching so much that I'm given no choice but to work a 20 bucks an hour job but even those are hard to get which doesn't make any sense. I, just, I don't know what to think about this whole thing anymore I feel like I just want to be sometimes woken up from this nightmare I've been living for over a year now literally like I want my old life back, I don't want AI to like have been a thing but again they released this thing to the world and now it's impacting people. I mean literally all these companies that you know they've leveraged this system to scan your resume automatically makes it that it's leaving thousands and thousands of people behind now. But I refuse to just like complain about it and feel like the victim but I am the victim. How do I let this not affect me you know knowing that's impacting everything in my life, financially you know emotionally, everything to just be, oh yeah it is what it is, it's no big deal, I guess I have like you know I have to become numb to it and somehow find joy in life and you know have a sense of like you know I feel like when I'm at peace lately is when I sleep, so that's when you know that's not good because if I'm looking forward to sleeping, all day long, so I don't have to think about the chaos I'm living, that just kind of tells you, you're at the end of your rope because I mean I'm not contemplating suicide but literally when I'm at peace is when when I sleep but that's absurd because I'm not living my life when I sleep, I dream. I don't know what to do anymore. Cover song lyrics "Disease" by Lady Gaga: [Intro] (Ah) (Ah) [Verse 1] There are no more tears to cry I heard you beggin' for life Runnin' out of medicine You're worse than you've ever been [Pre-Chorus] (Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby (Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die (Ah-ah) Poison on the inside I could be your antidote tonight (Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby (Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die (Ah-ah) Poison on the inside I could be your antidote tonight [Chorus] I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease If you were a sinner, I could make you believe Lay you down like one, two, three Eyes roll back in ecstasy I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya (Cure) Cure your disease [Verse 2] You're so tortured when you sleep Plagued with all your memories You reach out, and no one's there Like a god without a prayer [Pre-Chorus] (Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby (Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die (Ah-ah) Poison on the inside I could be your antidote tonight (Ah-ah) Screamin' for me, baby (Ah-ah) Like you're gonna die (Ah-ah) Poison on the inside I could be your antidote tonight [Chorus] I could play the doctor, I can cure your disease If you were a sinner, I could make you believe Lay you down like one, two, three Eyes roll back in ecstasy I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya (Cure) Cure your disease [Post-Chorus] (Ah) (Ah) Cure your disease (Ah) I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya [Chorus] Bring me your desire, I can cure your disease If you were a sinner, I could make you believe Lay you down like one, two, three Eyes roll back in ecstasy I know all your secrets, I can cure ya, oh Cure your disease [Post-Chorus] (Ah) Cure your disease (Ah) Cure ya (Ah) I can smell your sickness, I can cure ya I can cure your disease (Ah) Cure your disease (Ah) Cure your disease (Ah) Ooh (Ah) Ooh