It’s 2035
The year is 2035. More than 6 years ago Artificial General Intelligence was achieved, first by one cyber giant and soon after by several others. These had come not surprisingly from three countries: United States; China; and to the surprise of many, Ukraine, a country never judged to be a leader in the field but whose numerous years of battle, had driven them to be masters of innovation.
At first, industry had no idea how to deal with this most important of all AI developments. AGI meant that these platforms for lack of a better word, had the ability to understand, learn, and then use this knowledge to accomplish an impossible range of tasks at a pace and with greater efficiency than any human being. The cognitive abilities were simply amazing and growing still at an exponential rate. More importantly AGI could solve new and previously monumental tasks and all without human intervention. Finally, it was self-learning and tireless. The world had changed once it had been achieved, unfortunately most were either unaware or indifferent. For most, they assumed life would go on as before.
For the first year or so industry attempted to operationalize AGI to serve its purposes, not the least of which was to generate profits. Once they started to grasp its full potential, serious energy was directed towards adaptive robotics to address what was one of the most pressing issues of the times, that is, a lack of labour for everything from manual factory work to highly demanding jobs in engineering and research. The world of finance and accounting was hit hard as most accounting jobs were eliminated, and stock market analysts and bankers were almost irrelevant. Medicine now had access to reliable personalized services while pharmaceutical companies were bringing new drugs to the market faster than it had ever done before. Truck drivers. Taxi drivers. Customer service specialists. They were all endangered species. Despite being told over and over again that AI would not take away jobs, the truth was jobs of all types were disappearing.
AGI had an impact on work schedules. The traditional 9-5 model had given way to projects and assignments with human working in a hybrid fashion to support AGI managed tasks. Humans in demand were those who had honed their critical thinking skills and demonstrated creative and innovative abilities. While AGI had impressive skills it was not attuned to human emotions and as a result, emotional intelligence was highly valued. Similarly, those who were able to communicate clearly and concisely and/or tell stories were also valued. Industry also needed those with strong decision-making skills especially in highly nuanced and critical situations.
Countries that had had the forethought to integrate AI related skills into their curricula back in 2025, now found themselves with citizens in great demand around the world. China, UAE, Singapore, Malaysia and Finland had demonstrated courage and intelligence in quickly recognizing the world was changing irrevocably and that their children, their most precious resource, the foundation for their economic survival, needed to be readied. Those who refused to acknowledge this paradigm shift were attempting now to catch up, but their educational systems still longed for the bygone days and life was becoming increasingly challenging. Their failure to prepare their children would haunt them for years, no decades to come.