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What I explored: An article a friend sent me warning that AI could reshape most knowledge work — and conversations with educators about what comes next.
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What I learned: The disruption feels closer than many people realize, but preparation matters more than panic.
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How you can apply it: Start integrating AI literacy into how you work — now, not later, with your team.
My friend Pete sent me an article this week that stopped me in my tracks.
It was written by Matt Shumer, an AI founder who believes something big is happening — and fast. In the piece, he argues that AI isn’t a future concern. It’s already reshaping jobs, including his own. He even compares this moment to a “February 2020” moment — meaning, the early days of something that will change everything.
Here’s the article Pete sent me:
https://fortune.com/2026/02/11/something-big-is-happening-ai-february-2020-moment-matt-shumer/
Around the same time, Andrew Yang (former US Presidential candidate) warned that AI could push millions of knowledge workers out of work while our political systems fail to respond.
That’s heavy.
Then I had a conversation with a couple local high school marketing teachers. We were asking a simple but uncomfortable question: what do we teach students right now?
If AI can write marketing copy, generate code, analyze data, assist in engineering, and draft research — what happens to entry-level jobs? What happens to the kids graduating in the next few years?
I don’t think fear is the answer.
History tells us that when factories reshaped the workforce, we changed education. When the internet reshaped communication, we integrated digital skills everywhere.
AI needs to follow the same path.
Not as a single elective. Not as a novelty. As a foundational skill woven into marketing, engineering, journalism, business — even ethics. Students should learn how to prompt, supervise, verify, and collaborate with AI the same way they learn how to research and write.
And on the business side, I think we’ll see something new. Within five years, I expect people will spin up small AI-powered micro-businesses. One person overseeing multiple AI-driven operations. Ideas connected to payment gateways and launched quickly. Humans shifting from doing the tasks to designing and directing the systems.
This matters because fear without preparation creates paralysis. Intentional integration creates leverage. The businesses and schools that start building AI literacy now will give people clarity instead of confusion — and agency instead of anxiety.