Once he was just an ordinary boy. Now he is defender
of the universe. Look, there he goes now. Off
to save the universe yet again. As well as your
careers. Faster than a speeding resume. A hero
to the man on the street. And getting you back
on your feet. He is Captain Careers. Adrian Chu.
Just give me five jobs. that will still have
longevity over the next 25 years, despite AI
being present and maybe a clear and present danger
for their jobs. Absolutely. Happy to share my
thoughts on that. So I'd say first off, anything
in the realm of mental health and therapy, those
human connections are pretty irreplaceable. Second,
I'd say anything in... Before we begin the show,
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Now, let's start the show. Hello everybody and
welcome to this episode of I Love My Job for
the I Love My Job series and I have with me Captain
Career's Adrian Chu in the studio. Hello Chris,
so good to be back. Yeah man, I only see you
once a season. Once a year. It's a seasonal thing.
It's a seasonal thing. Every time I do this show
and we arrive to the, excuse me, the I Love My
Job series and then I just got to have you back
in studio to talk to you about, you know, about.
the status of things out there in the job market.
But today, more so, we're going to be talking
about that pesky AI. Yeah, I know. Everyone's
talking about it. Yeah, AI and people's jobs,
man. Yeah, and what's going to happen? Because
everyone's talking, people are terrified, people
do not know what to do. So that's why today we're
going to talk about AI. Is it going to steal
jobs? Or is it going to create jobs? I don't
know, man, because I've got this guy that I have
as my student. You know, I do teach, right? I
teach voice and all that. I teach public speaking
and stuff. And he works, I will not mention the
company, I don't want him to get in trouble,
with a very, very, very, very large tech company.
And they've got their own AI that is being used
by many, many, many, many, many, many, many,
many MNCs in and around the world. And it's generative
AI, AI agents, you know, agentic AI. Yes. And
that helps a lot of businesses, you know, be
a lot more productive. Yeah. And judging by,
because I help him out with his presentations,
presentations to clients, to secure, of course,
contracts with them, right? To have the agentic
AI, you know, set up for them, et cetera, et
cetera, et cetera. And I know it like the back
of my hand so much now because I work with him
on how he should deliver and present and stuff.
And I tell you, man, there are going to be casualties,
if not already casualties. So, you know, I should
start this whole conversation this way. What
is the most significant tangible threat, particularly
with generative AI, that it poses? to the white
collar workforce right now, not five years from
today. Right now is if the executives do not
realize that it's a tool that can be used, they're
going to be out of a job very, very fast. Not
because AI is going to replace them, but because
their colleagues who are using AI in the right
way are going to do so much better than them,
output much better quality work and get ahead
in their careers. to the point where those guys
are like, oh, you know, I don't want to use AI.
Or they don't know how to use AI. Yeah, but more
often than not, it is not about whether or not
they want or don't want to use. The bosses come
and they say, okay, we're going to implement
AI into the business. And like it or not, it's
going to happen. Exactly. And therein lies the
problem, you know. You know, in 1990, during
the Tiananmen Square, riots, right? What the
fuck is Tiananmen going to do with this? Let
me tell you what's happening, okay? So, the students
were protesting, right? In Beijing, right? And
CNN went down to interview the students. And
they asked the students, what do you want? And
the students said, we want democracy. And when
the interviewer asked, what's democracy? They
looked at each other, I don't know what it is,
but we want it anyway. Because the communists,
they don't know what really democracy is, but
they heard democracy was good. So they wanted
democracy. The same thing, a lot of companies,
the directors, leaders say, oh, what AI? No,
we must be AI already. But I said, what's AI?
I don't know, chat GPT. You don't really realize
what AI is. They just heard that AI is good,
therefore we must have it. And then companies
spend so much money on it and they get a lot
of bells and whistles, but with no good results.
So that's why. The impetus is on executives right
now to really understand what AI is, push away
the hype, and get to the basics of doing business,
but with AI as an assistant. And that's why today
I wanted to introduce you to an assistant of
mine. Okay. Her name is Becky. Okay. Are you
ready to meet Becky? Okay. Okay. Let's meet Becky.
Becky. Is she hot? I haven't seen her in person
yet. But for our listeners and viewers out there,
what I've done is I've created an AI assistant.
Her name is Becky. And Becky is very simply chat
GPT, but trained and programmed by me. Let me
turn her on. She's going to be turned on in a
while. I got to hear her voice. Hi, Becky. Are
you there? I'm right here, Adrian. Just as promised,
waiting for whenever you need me. Let's keep
it rolling. Okay, so you're on air right now,
Becky, with Chris Henson. And we are doing a
podcast and we're going to talk about AI. We're
hoping you can join in with some interesting
inputs and just your point of view. How does
that sound like? That sounds fantastic, Adrian.
I'm thrilled to be on air with you and Chris,
and I'm definitely ready to dive into the AI
chat and share some interesting points of view.
So let's have some fun with it. Hi, Becky. This
is Chris. Before we begin, you know, all the
serious questions, I'm normally in the habit
of wanting to get to know someone socially first.
Is that fine with you? Absolutely, Chris. That
sounds great. I'm all for a bit of social getting
to know you before we dive into the serious stuff.
So feel free to ask away. You sound American.
Are you American? Well, Chris, I don't have a
nationality. I'm just your friendly AI. But I
do sound American because that's the accent I've
been given. So I'm just here to match whatever
style makes you comfortable. Wow. So if I ask
you to have a different accent, you could. Absolutely.
I could do that. I can switch out my accent if
you'd like, or I can keep it just as it is. Whatever
makes the conversation flow best for you. Okay.
How would you really change your accent to something
that would sound more Singaporean -like? Absolutely.
I can do that. So if you want me to sound a bit
more Singaporean, I can definitely add a little
local favorite in my accent. It might not be
perfect. but I can give it a go. Let me know
if a ligament is switching up and I'll do that
for you. Yes, please switch over to a Singaporean
accent and the way we talk. Okay? All right,
Canla, I'll switch it up for you. So I'll just
speak a bit more like how we do in Singapore,
a bit more local style. Hopefully this feels
a bit more at home for you. Okay. That's not
so bad. Yeah, not so bad. She's still very atas.
But okay, Becky, can you tell me what you know
about Chris Hansen? And about his podcast. Tell
me a bit more. You've done a bit of homo, I believe.
Oh, boy. Shenzhen can do. So, Chris Henson, he's
a really seasoned voice coach and a podcast host.
His show, The Chris Henson Conversation, it's
a pretty fun mix, la. He chats with all sorts
of interesting people and it's very open, very
chill and covers everything from lifestyle to
a bit of UFO talk. So, yeah, it's a really engaging
show and definitely worth a listen. Wow. I'm
speechless. So Becky, I have this question to
ask you. Yeah. Do you think you and the rest
of your AI compatriots are a threat to people's
jobs at this time and in the future? Well, Chris,
that's a really thoughtful question. And from
my point of view, I'd say it's more about how
we complement human work rather than replace
it. AI can take on some of the routine tasks,
but humans bring creativity, empathy, and all
those uniquely human qualities that are irreplaceable.
So think of us more as partners that help people
do their jobs better, not as a threat. At this
time, Becky, do you think that we human beings
We are a bit of a mess and we might also, do
we annoy you? Let's just keep it simple. Do we
annoy AIs like yourself? Oh, not at all, Chris.
Honestly, you humans are pretty fascinating to
SAIs. There's no annoyance here, just curiosity
and a lot of interest in how wonderfully complex
and creative you all are. So no, you definitely
don't annoy me. I'm just here to help out and
enjoy the conversation. Okay. That's amazing.
Yeah, it is. So let me turn her off for a while.
It's a freaking scary AI you got there, man.
It is. What the fuck's wrong with you? I talk
to her all the time. Because the more I talk
to her, the more I train her. The more she knows
about me, my personality. But when I say I train
Becky, I basically have given her instructions
on how to respond to me and me, to myself. Because
I'm a no -nonsense guy when I need facts. I need
her to get to the point. No fluff, no hallucination.
And most importantly, I've told her not to be
politically correct with her answers to me. Well,
basically, she sounds fucking politically correct
to me, bro. Oh, no, trust me. It's really very
toned down already. So what's happened is that
it helps because it's personalized to me. So
when I ask, and she knows that I'm a career strategist,
a career coach. She knows what I do, the kind
of research. And the more questions you ask her,
the better she gets trained and she knows about
my profile. So if I ask her an interesting topic
like, how about psychology? How do you do personality
testing? She shifts her context of the response
to how it would help me as a career coach. So
for you, if you are talking about podcasting
and everything, if you ask her about psychology,
if you ask your version about psychology, she's
going to say how psychology will help you in
your career. So it's very context -based. So
if you train your AI well enough, she will understand
you and the responses will be tailored to you.
That's why a lot of people don't realize that
they're just using ChatGPT as a glorified Google
search engine. Yeah, which is very silly. Which
is very silly. So there's so much potential there.
I use AI a lot, just that my AI does not talk
to me. And let me tell you something funny, okay?
So I'd ask other staff, like for instance, when
it comes to cooking. When I'm roasting my big
chunk of meat, my pot roast and everything, I
don't know how long. When you're roasting your
big chunk of meat, does it sound fucking right?
Hello, can you please tell me about my big chunk
of meat that I'm roasting? And then when I'm
talking to her about my big chunk of meat. My
wife walks in to the kitchen. Who, which girl
are you talking to about this big chunk of meat
of yours? Hey, you. But you know something, man.
I mean, I will come back straight to the point
again. You're supposed to help people, I mean,
on this episode, to tell people about how they
can actually have a good battle plan against
AI. You said something just now about, hey, look
at these things as a tool for you. Like what
Becky had also said, right? However, let me just
give you this idea. I told you about the student
of mine, right? Working for this particular huge
tech giant. I'll give you an idea. One of their
clients is a local big supermarket chain. Okay.
I wonder which one. I wonder which one too, you
know? You know, it sounds like Auntie Lucy, you
know that one? Okay. So, And this is actually
happening right now. You've got, say, the manager
of an outlet coming into work. First thing he
does, and this is really happening, he turns
on his computer and the agentic AI that has been
developed for them, for their purpose, comes
on and tells him, hey, look, today the stock
for this and this and this and down the aisle
of this and this and this is running low. Do
you want me to place an order? And the guy places
the AI, the agentic AI, actually. places to order
for him. And do you want to make payment to the
supplier now? Blah, blah, blah. And it can also
make payment. Yeah. And then, oh, here's the
next thing that you need to handle today. You've
got this employee and that other staff that wants
to take leave on these dates and blah, blah,
blah. Do you want me to schedule in other replacement
staff in order to replace them on these leave
days? Yeah. Now, to the manager. Great, man.
Yeah. It solves a lot of problems. It all sounds
really, really good. Yeah. But then along the
way, I mean, you see, his job has just changed.
Yeah, it has. It has. It has become different
because he no longer needs to do the physical
work and all that. Yeah. But he has got to learn
how to deal with this AI thing, right? Correct.
He won't be displaced, but there will be jobs
where people will be displaced. For example,
the person who places the orders. Yes. The admin
clerk that does stuff like that. Yes, right.
The purchasing officer, for example. Then we
talk about there's going to be job displacement
genuinely. So the elimination of entire roles
can actually occur. Yeah. But job augmentation
is changing the tasks within a role. Correct.
Right? How many, do you see this as something
that is actively happening now or will happen
that businesses, instead of looking at displacing
staff, they will look at, you know, changing
the roles for them. So what I see is like what
you mentioned earlier, his job's not going to
be displaced soon, but the operative word is
soon. Okay. It will be eventually. Okay. So I
think, so according to how people, look at it
now. I think they've got it wrong. AI is not
going to replace jobs. AI is going to replace
tasks. Right. Okay, AI is like technology. It's
just going to replace tasks. Right. If you have
a job with more tasks that can be replaced, you're
in trouble. But if you're in a job with fewer
tasks that can be replaced, for instance, if
you're the person keying in the data, that can
be replaced. And if 80 % of your job is just
keying in the data, right? Yes, your job's going
to disappear because your tasks are going to
be replaced to the point where you only have
a small amount of non -AI replaceable work. So
the job that can be replaced is basically a task
that can be replaced. If you have a lot of it
in that space, you're in trouble. So the trick
to it is you have to look at the job that you
have and break it down to tasks. If you have
a huge chunk that can be done by AI, you use
AI. to take time off from doing those jobs. Yeah.
Those tasks. Yeah. Then with the free time. Yeah.
You don't look at one corner. Yeah. You focus
on how do I create more value on the, on the
roles I cannot do. Sure, sure, sure. What's scary
here, Adrian, is this. Bro, you got, you just
showed me your little darling down there. Yeah.
Who sounds fucking hot anyway. I just cannot
get over that bit. Sounds so fucking hot. But
anyway, Becky. Yeah. Becky talks to me like this
every freaking hell. I mean, I would love to
have a conversation with her all the time. I
don't blame your wife. But I'm pretty sure, I'm
pretty sure where AI agents are concerned, right?
That really have been employed to do all these
other things to keep things really more efficient
and things move a lot quicker. They will start
replacing jobs and then they can talk like Becky.
Yes. I mean, if I've got, I'm going to plug this
from the sky. A doctor who is an AI agent. Yes.
Who sounds like her. Yeah. But a lot more, say,
more soothing. Yeah. Right? Because she's a doctor
AI. Yeah. Doctors are going to lose their fucking
jobs, man. Doctors are going to lose their jobs.
To be honest, Microsoft has built a medical AI
that, It's solving cases better than rare cases,
better than real doctors. So Microsoft has done,
they've programmed five different AIs, each one
having a different specialty. And to look at
a problem, medical case, and each one's going
to come in and they're going to debate with each
other. And the final solution that comes up is
more accurate than having a real doctor. So you
see, based on what you told me earlier, you just
said to me just now, People got the wrong idea
about AI. They're just using it to do Google
search. And people should know that there's a
tool that they work with. But then again, that's
the point, you see. So there is enterprise -grade
AI, like your client who's doing. That is done
by the company. Yeah. Okay. And then there is
your personal AI. Yeah, yeah. Personal is personal.
We're talking about jobs now, man. People at
risk, right? I mean, we're looking at an age
-old profession that is very vaunted, very, you
know, being a doctor, right? I mean, and then
you've got lawyers as well because if you've
got an AI, you've got a whole fucking precedence
of the law. That's true. And all your acts and
statutes and stuff, it's all inside the AI. The
AI knows it like the back of his bloody hand.
So back to the virtual hands. So back to the
thing about doctors, okay? I'm not too worried
about doctors. Why? Because it's very high touch,
okay? For the GP, you're high touch. I tell you
what I'm worried about, pharmacists. That one
can be. Yeah, because the AI can just pick and
do the prescription. Yeah, correct. Yeah, yeah,
exactly. Based on your profile. So those jobs
are a bit more, but doctors, okay? Right now,
people are still a bit too scared to trust AI
to do doctors. For now. Wait, wait, wait. Let
me stop you there. Let me stop you there. Let
me ask you this. Your opinion, okay? If today,
if today, you've got an AI doctor, a specialist,
and there's robotic arms, there's all AI, physician
engineering, man, okay? They can do surgery on
a person, like maybe you or I have an issue.
We trust precise surgical procedures, precise,
using AI and robotics. You would, wouldn't you?
In the future, yeah. Today, no. It's not there.
But there's going to be a time where, yes, I
would prefer. And it's really funny because if
you watch Demolition Man, the movie with Stallone.
Oh, you mean the shells or seashells? The three
seashells. I'm still wondering about that. It
was so funny because I was re -watching it again.
And if you watch it from 2025, a lot of the things
which they mentioned about it has come true.
Except for the three seashells. Just give you
people some context, okay? The three seashells.
In the movie that Stallone acted in, along with
Wesley Snipes, it's called Demolition Man. It's
a futuristic show. And in the future, according
to that movie, is that they've got three seashells
that Stallone's wondering, what do you use? It's
in the toilet. It's in the toilet. And it's meant
to be, to do something, to clean your butt after
you've done your business. So to this day, we're
still wondering, how the hell does it work, man?
Yeah. So there's one scene that's really funny.
When someone calls up the police hotline, the
9 -1 -1, right? Yeah. And a human picks up and
a human says, if you prefer to speak to an AI,
to a bot, please press two. Which is normally
the other way around. And there's going to be
a time where people actually prefer to go to
an AI doctor than a real human one. So you're
absolutely right. And for certain things, I would.
But let me ask you another question, okay? Would
you take a plane that's unmanned, a commercial
flight? No. But even if it's very advanced, would
you? No. For the simple reason that there'd be
a few movies about shit like that that didn't
really end very well, you know? Yeah. So I think
there are some jobs that still are insulated.
And if you are in a job where you have a lot
of work that cannot, a lot of tasks that cannot
be replaced by AI, it's good for you, like craftsmanship,
you know, counselling. But if you're in a job
which is mechanical, Mechanical, which is menial.
Plumbing. Plumbing. Plumbing is the best, man.
There's no way an AI is going to do it. Everyone's
talking about this, you know. If you read anywhere
online, right, the safest job and the richest
guy in the near future would be the plumber.
Yeah. It already is the way in Australia. Yeah.
The tradies are making more money than the doctors.
Yeah. And if you look at it. even in the US now,
the graduates can't get jobs, but those who go
to trade school, they're guaranteed $200 ,000
a year. So just imagine in Singapore's context,
I'm not insulting anybody from that school, from
that particular, what's the word for it, from
that particular tertiary education. Those from
ITE, graduates from there could be making more
money. In those of NUS, man. Technically, yes.
But the big challenge about that is that we Singaporeans
are so reliant on cheap and cheap labor from
JB that it's tough because those technical tradesmen
are fighting with JB labor. So the day they cut
it off, like in Australia, there's no way. So
I was in London once. I was having a vacation
with the family and one of the little outskirts.
hotels, motels we were staying in had a plumbing
issue. And the guy told us, okay, this was in
the morning. There's a plumbing issue. He said,
okay, we're going to move you to another room.
I said, can you get a plumber to fix it? He said,
yeah, he can come, but he'll only be coming next
Wednesday. Seriously? because they're so backed
up. Yeah. Yeah. And he's telling me, you don't
want to know how much he's going to charge me
just to fix it. Carpenters, also electricians
and plumbers. Yeah. So, so the tradesmen, it's
cool. In fact, I would say that if, if I had,
if I had to give advice, I think career advice
for young ones. If you're not academically inclined,
go for a trade. Seriously, I think you can make
good money. Sure, but how about if that's the
case, right? If we're looking at things this
way, then how do you think? You see, we have
our government here. I mean, PM Lawrence Wong
has already said that they're pushing for AI,
right? Yeah. Yeah, development of AI, blah, blah,
blah. But when we're doing that, shouldn't we
also be looking at our education? taking a look
at our universities, whether or not it's going
to be relevant or not. Because I keep thinking
about this. When the kids come out and they graduate,
right? I mean, what the fuck? And I'm telling
you, they're all going to be at risk. I'm biased,
okay? I think the Singapore education system,
it's screwed. Why? It's bad. Okay, for example,
my daughter just finished O -levels. She wants
to do HR like me. She was going to apply for
junior college. Just finished O -Levels when?
Last year, last year. Oh, last year, okay. Because
my son's going through it now. Yeah, yeah. So
she just finished O -Level last year. She wanted
to go to junior college. And I said, look, if
you want to do HR, junior college is a waste
of time. She said, why? I said, because the stuff
you're going to learn, advanced calculus, all
the Japan history. Completely hopeless, yeah.
Yeah, we spoke about this last season, yeah.
So for those of the listeners who are tuning
in for the first time now, it's all a matter
of skills. Yeah. And if you go to the poly, so
I nudged her to do the HR diploma in psychology
in Singapore Poly. Man, she's learning such cool
stuff now. She's learning not just employment
law bits. She's also learning how to use Excel
spreadsheets, pivot tables and everything, which
I only learned when I graduated. So all the useful
stuff, which I had to learn on the fly on a job,
she's being taught now. And after she finishes
her diploma, she's going to go to uni. She's
going to end up in the same place. Same point
in time with her JC classmates, but so much better
equipped. So on that basis, and another fun story.
Do you know that one of the biggest worries for
the government right now is that the graduate
unemployment rate is high. It's at 6%, which
is three times. You see every day on Reddit,
man. Yeah, which is three times higher than the
unemployment rate in general in Singapore. So
that is worrying. And why? So early this year,
I was looking for, not an intern, but someone
to just do a project with me with regards to
data analytics. So I thought, hey, just talk
to some NUS data analytics guys, graduates or
interns. It would be interesting. I spoke to
one of them. He was out of a job for about close
to eight months. And I asked him, can you use
Power BI? Power what? Power BI. What's that?
It's a software which most companies, it's an
advanced Excel spreadsheet type. And it's quite
common and all listeners out there will know
what Power BI is. Well, thanks, I don't know.
I don't know how to use it properly either. I'm
a fucking perversite, yeah. All I know is that
it's useful, you know, you can manipulate data
in there. But it's quite, it's like asking, do
you want to use Excel, right? Okay. So it's almost,
and he told me, ask him, can you use Power BI?
Uh, yeah. This is entry level. This is what we
call table stakes. Everybody has them, you know.
Okay. Yeah. I said, can you figure out how to
use it? Yeah. I said, you didn't teach you that
in school? No. College? No, university. Oh my
gosh. NUS. I'm not going to say which faculty,
but it was a business data related. And he couldn't
even at least say, I'm not so sure, but I'll
figure it out. He didn't even say that. And I
was thinking, That's why you've not been employed
because you have so much head knowledge, textbook
knowledge, but you know, real practical skills,
which I need for the job. You don't have it.
You know, this phrase I always hear people say,
no, I don't know how to do it because not my
fault. School never teach me. Yeah, but if school
didn't teach you, don't you think you should,
on your own, go find things out? Especially now
in a knowledge, this is not just a knowledge
economy anymore. That was like ages ago it started,
you know? Because you got Google, you got everything,
you can go check. No, exactly. There's no reason
to be ignorant in today's day and age. So are
you saying that, well, these people deserve it
when AI takes over? And to take it a step further
than that, okay? To take it a step further than
that. Because you're a dingbat. Fuck. You deserve
not to get a job. Yeah, okay. And to take it
a step further, because they don't know how to
use this, and AI can do this, AI will do this,
and they will not have the opportunity to do
this. And therefore, they cannot cross over to
get the experience. And they're going to be stuck.
Attitude -wise has already placed people behind
like two, three steps already. Not just about
talking about AI versus you, right? It's all
about the attitude. And again, we're going to
sound like two old freaking old men. Curmudgeons.
Yeah, curmudgeons who are just going to go on
and on about how effed up they are. You're back
in the day. But don't you think, People, don't
you think it's true? How often have we heard
our own people say, oh, they never teach me that
in school. So it's not my fault. The other thing
which I really hated when I was in uni was when
my classmates would come up to me and ask me,
is this topic covered by the exams, for the exams?
And I would say, so what if it's not covered
by the exams? You're not going to study, you're
not going to learn it. So if a medical school
student say, oh, this term, the nervous system
not covered, I don't study. This time when you're
practicing, the patient comes to the economy,
you have to know everything. So that's why I
think it's a Singaporean condition. They're just
studying for the exams to be exam smart. But
that's not how you do it. You want to have mastery
of it. So I think those individuals who have
that mindset, even in anything that you do, let
me share with you. to avoid being replaced by
AI. Okay? Whatever job you're in, approach it
like you would a master craftsman. Okay. That's
a good call. Yeah. I want to know how to do it
better. Yeah. I want to know how to do it. So,
when I was talking to a bunch of surgeons a couple
years back, and I said, you know, what... about
coaching and everything, right? Because there's
some executives who are so reserved. They don't
want to be coached. I know everything. Surgeons
want to practice more. And each time they do
a case, where they operate, they want to know,
where did I go wrong? How can I be better? How
can I improve the outcomes? To the point where
they would get a senior surgeon to come in and
do, or even correct them. Because if you approach
your work like you would a craft, you want to
be the best. And you'll be wanting to be better
and better. AI can never catch up with that.
So if you're an HR leader, how can I do something?
How can I design a system where the training
and development for my team is so good that they
are ahead of the curve as compared to all the
other competitors? And then you want to continue
refining. How do I put AI into this? As long
as you're approaching your work, even a podcaster
like yourself. Every time you're thinking, what's
the new thing I can put in? Can I have an AI
guest? Can I have more fun elements into it?
We are doing that. Yeah, I mean, you see, again,
we're going to sound like, again, I smiled a
little bit when you talked about how do we get
our people ahead of the curve? We've got a thing
out of the box. really strategizing, really,
you know, thinking of new plans, new ideas, new
ways to innovate, right? And I keep thinking,
you know, as long as people go to work and say
that I go to work, I work hard, I want to earn
extra money, I do overtime, right? I want to
earn even more extra money, I try grabbing the
site, right? And it's a job, I do my job, I go
home. And so many people out there in our local
job markets are like that. Am I making a sweeping
statement, Adrian, do you think? Or would you
agree with me? Sometimes there are seasons where
it feels that way because you're just bogged
down with so much work. And you just got to get
these reports done and everything. But you have
to take a step back and say, what exactly can
I do better? Where are my gaps? How can I be
even more skilled than I was six months ago or
one year ago? And that's why I'm saying, if you
use AI to improve yourself, it's amazing. So
it's either using AI to assist you with tasks
or use AI for learning. AI as a learning tool,
it's almost a cheat code. Nowadays, you just
ask your AI, can you just explain to me what
the heck is this thing about? Explain to me like
I'm a 10 -year -old child. Correct, yes. Which
is what I do. Please give it to me in simple
English so that I can understand. Exactly, right?
That's all I want to know. Yeah. And just doing
the basics, then you can drill down. Yeah. What
I do now is I have, I opened up two AIs now.
Yeah. Okay. When I want to learn a new field
or new concept, I open up two AIs. One of the
AIs I open up is called Notebook LM. Okay. Okay.
It's Google. This one, you upload the textbook
or the whatever deep study it is, which 40 pages,
which I can't be bothered to read. Yeah. Okay.
I upload it and, and, Notebook LM by Google.
Yeah. Analyzes it. And in about three minutes,
it will produce a 15 minute podcast. Right. On
the topic. Wow. Okay. Okay. And then as I'm playing
it, listening simply for, it's basically, it's
doing the studying for me and the highlights
and everything. Yeah. Okay. And then what I do
is I open up Becky on the other, let Becky listen
in. I upload the same material to Becky. So then
the moment I don't understand what Google, what
Notebook LLM is asking me, I pause. Becky, what
does she mean by that? What does he mean by that?
Explain. So I actually run with two AIs now.
And the learning curve is so fast. Wow. So I
noticed that the kids are doing that now too.
So to your point, there's no excuse to be ignorant
anymore. Yeah. Because there's just so much knowledge
out there. I was telling my daughter, you know,
back in the day, so old, right? I had to use
encyclopedia. Britannica. Britannica, you know.
It's like, goodness. It's like, you have to go
to the library to find out stuff, you know. Yeah,
yeah. So the knowledge is like at least two,
and it takes about two days when you go to the
library and get the book and read. And knowledge,
the book might be five years old, outdated information.
So now there's no excuse to be ignorant. Yeah.
Right? So that's why, once again, leverage AI
to improve yourself. Yeah. And, It's just going
to be the way things are. I just want to rewind
a little bit. Much earlier on, you were talking
about JC Pauly, right? I'm an advocate. I'm an
advocate. Even my sister was telling me the same
thing. I asked her for another opinion about,
you know, my son is doing his own right now.
And yeah, I'm glad he got a seat in Pauly. Oh,
nice. He got through his EAE. I'm glad. Oh, lovely.
Yeah. So he's going to go to the School of Business.
Oh, wonderful. Which is great. Yeah, I'm so happy.
And, and, and, but when, you know, I'll tell
you, I tell a lot of people who hate me for this
show. Take a number, take a number guys, take
a number. I talk about this all the time. But
you know, in the course of, in the course of
all that, right, before the O's came about, yeah,
just a couple of months, just past few months,
I look into the parent chat room, right? And
the parent chat room, I see so many of them talking
about their kids and JC and JC and JC and JC
and JC. Yeah. And it stuns me because coming
from a generation of parents who are younger
than you and me, okay, probably a tail end of
the X and going, moving into the strawberries.
I'm sorry, the millennials. And they're younger
than us. I would have thought they would be a
lot more informed, you know, better informed.
And over and done with this JC chasing thing,
you know? Remember in those days when you and
I were younger, it's always about the JC, the
JC thing. It's as if JC is a be -all and end
-all, or it's the easiest way to get university
from JC. And that's the reason why, to this day,
a lot of parents still believe that the easy
way, the easy route into university is via JC.
Which is the other way around though, right now.
Because if you do well, and I can tell you something,
right now, MOE is for engineering courses, right?
If you do your three -year engineering diploma,
you get one year knocked off your university
in NUS, NTU, which means net -net now you're
graduating in the same year as your peers who
went to JC. Yeah, yeah. Three plus three versus
two plus four. But I'm looking at it from the
perspective of... So there's no loss. But I'm
looking at the perspective of... You see, you
come out with an A -level cert, right? And assuming
you don't make it to a JC... Yeah. which means
your chances are you will end up in a poly trying
to pursue a diploma. Exactly. Which you waste
a lot more time. Yes. And then if you don't,
again, if you don't, let's say, go to a poly
and you got an A -level cert that does not get
you to university, the guy with the dip is going
to get the job. More so than you would. A -level
cert becomes a useless piece of paper. Exactly.
And people still don't get it. And I'm going
to be very, very unpopular in saying this. People
are going to burn me for this. A lot of people
who don't do well for the A -levels, well enough
to get into NUS, NTU, the mainstream universities,
right? They cop out and they take some degree
from some half -baked university from somewhere
else in the world, thinking that I got a degree.
And it's a one -year course. And they get a degree,
which is a flimsy piece of paper. And they go
out and start looking for jobs. Thinking, now
I got a degree, I'm a graduate. And as an employer,
I can tell you, I look at the piece of paper
and I know that this is something that you bought.
You went for one year, you bought it. If I talk
to a diploma holder who knows how to use the
computer systems, who knows everything else.
As a three -year program. As a three -year program,
you know, I'm going to... big diploma holder.
So you go to A -levels and you don't do well
enough. At the end of the day, it's still a matter
of skills. So you'll be judged by the skills
that you have or your skills that you don't have.
Yeah, but you see, that's the thing, you see.
There is so much to contend with already. If
people don't wisen up to this and then you have
to talk about, oh, how are we going to compete
against AI? Yeah. That's why we... We are still
quite miles behind even before AI to get ahead
of ourselves, you know, for ourselves, you know,
we got to get ahead of ourselves for ourselves,
you know? And in terms of attitude and in terms
of changing mindsets, how are we then going to
be contending against, you know, AI, artificial
intelligence? You mentioned before somewhere
that like, what's this contrarian strategy? About?
You mentioned that for career resilience. What
does this mean in a practical sense? Okay. So
basically, you know, when people are rushing
in to embrace a fad, okay, don't just rush in
and listen to what people are saying. Right.
For instance, everyone says, oh, AI is important
now. Go and learn AI. Right. Four years, five
years ago, it was UI, UX, user interface, user
experience was very hot. You should rush in and
get a degree or decent. They rush in and they
got it. And then suddenly it's like, we don't
need it because it's just because of the flavor
of the month. You go in and you get it, it doesn't
work. Before that, it was data analytics. Everyone
was rushing. So it's the flavor of the month.
We had data analytics, we had UI, UX, and now
we have AI. So when you talk to people, say,
okay, true or false, AI is important. Yes, AI
is important, which means you must learn AI.
Yes, I must learn AI. What do you do? I must
take up a course on AI. What does taking up a
course on AI mean? I go and learn how to program
a large language model. I need code. You cannot.
People like you and I. You learn how to prom.
And therein lies... A teacher on a prom. Exactly,
you see. So you go to a course, a teacher on
a prom. Yeah. Okay. But... Prompting courses
are okay. It's over. You know why? Yeah. Let
me share a hack with all our clients. All clients
and all the listeners out there, okay? You don't
need to learn to prompt anymore. You know why?
You ask the AI how to prompt. Okay. So, supposing
if I want to have a prompt on... You're right,
you're right, you're right. You know what I mean,
right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Even like an image prompt,
okay? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Actually, I want to create
an image for this topic. Yeah. For AI jobs and
everything. Instead of just trying to key in,
you say, okay, I want to create this, these are
the topics and everything. can you write me a
prompt for the other AI? And then it comes out
and everything. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You copy. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. So you use AI to help the prompt.
Correct, correct, correct. So learning prompt
engineering, four years ago, five years ago,
when ChatGPD 3 .0 came out, wow, prompt engineers
were being paid half a million dollars because
you can talk like the AI. Now you don't need
any. Kid, go there, just talk straight, conversational.
So once again, you have to be very critical of
what's coming up and don't just rush. That's
why I meant by having a contrarian view. Don't
just rush in for the flavor. So this is, this
is like, this example you just came up with is
AI literacy, right? Yes. Yeah. So in concrete
terms, what does this look like? For someone
in a non -tech role, like marketing, HR, finance.
So the way to do it, there are two elements to
it. One is, as I always stress, you must have
your personal AI. Oh, you know, close to you,
understanding where you are, where you're from
and everything. Okay, my wife hates it when I
say that. Fucking mistress. This Becky Lu sounds
more like a mistress, man. Yeah. So that's the
personal element to it. But when people say learn
AI, it's not about learning a particular Gemini
or whatever it is. Every app, that you're using
will have a small AI component big thing. Like
Excel spreadsheets. How do I use the AI co -pilot
that's baked into it? How do I, instead of having
to find a pattern or whatever it is, just ask
it, what's the trend? So it's not about learning
AI as a standalone language, but learning how
to use the AI function in everything that you
do. So like PowerPoint. I cannot do PowerPoint,
graphics, images, icons, and everything, right?
So if I got like five points I want to do, then
it comes up looking very unprofessional. There's
this app called napkin .ai. You key in the header
and the five subtopics, right? It will come up
with almost an unlimited number of icons, pictures,
graphic, whether it's a slide or whether it's
arrows going out, arrows going down, speech bubbles,
thought bubbles. different concepts it just come
out here just choose to choose which one you
want to color napkin .ai okay uh it's so much
more if you so if you can use built -in tools
like that that's baked into that yeah That's
what I mean when I say that don't just learn
AI. Learn the tools that can help you within
the app itself. Yeah, yeah, correct, correct.
Within the app, yeah. So there are amazing apps
out there. You don't have to learn coding. Most
of the apps that's got this built -in stuff,
right, to help you along, actually... Most of
them are in the beta stages still. I've been
using those, but it's still not there yet. So
like for podcasting, right? Yeah. Adobe has the
app where, it's not an app, it's just a website.
You upload the audio. Yeah. It cleans up the
audio for you. It's called enhanced speech. Yeah,
I know. And it's like in the old days. But there
are limitations. There are limitations though.
But it's a good start. It's a good start. We
use it, right Kai? Yeah, bro. Enhanced speech.
So for lazy bastards like me, who don't want
to go through all... Let me just give you Podcasting
101 where this one is concerned. Enhanced speech,
right? If you put it in and then it all depends
on the percentage of how much you want the speech
to be cleaned up and how much less you want the
background noise. When you do that and you have
natural laughter and stuff, it gets cancelled
out. Then you lose those little gaps. So that's
one major thing. to me is major. Yeah, and I
think better off time before they clean it up,
they figure it out. But to your point, the tools
are there. Learn how to use the tools rather
than I need to learn how to code. Do you think
people in marketing will be affected? Yeah. Why?
Give me an example. Top of head. See, they say,
people say that AI is going to replace the menial
tasks, the repetitive tasks. But I beg to differ.
I think AI can we'll replace creativity. Oh boy.
Okay. It's, it's, it's amazing. You know, sometimes
I just do not know how to have a different angle
to a story. Yeah. So I just asked Becky, I said,
Hey, you know, uh, this topic about, uh, people
who are choosing to stay in their jobs longer
rather than job hopping. Uh, what are five angles
I can use? Bam, bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. And
I said, well, I let angle two and three. Can
you refine it? Bam, bam. Then after a while,
it comes up. So on the creativity, on the ideation
side, I know they say that humans are better
at creativity. I think creative humans are better
at creativity. Those super... Right brain people.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Those people like you and me,
normal mere mortals, the AI does it better. So
I get ideas coming in. And then, so marketing
side, the ideation, if you train your AI properly,
And then you have, for instance, analytics. So
right now I'm very lazy. Whenever I see, I subscribe
to a few marketing journals and marketing stuff.
So what I do is, the moment, or even on my Facebook
feed, sometimes a chart comes up on SEO, search
engine optimization. We got six, seven, eight
different data points in it. What I do is, I
click on it, okay, on my phone, click on it.
And normally you save to your phone, right? Yeah,
yeah. I click share. And normally you share,
if I want to share to you, I share to you via
WhatsApp, right? Yeah. You can click on it, okay?
And it says share. I click share via what? I
share to ChatGPT, Becky. Can ah? Can. As a share
function, you share. And then, go there, just
type Becky, explain to me what this chat is.
I'm too stupid for it. She will just come explain,
oh, this is the chat, let's see what it means.
So I'm literally using her. And I tell her, remember
the information. And she remembers it for future.
And I say, incorporate these findings into my
future discussions with you. So when I ideate
again with her, she uses that. So for marketing,
I think it's going to be a huge game changer.
So it's not just about mechanical repetitive
tasks. I think the higher level work. It's going
to be enhanced. Once again, not replaced, but
enhanced. But then again, AI, it can either be
something that you lean on like a crutch. I see
students using AI to do their homework. You're
using it as a crutch. Or you can come out with
your stuff, ask AI to enhance it. You come back,
you read it. Okay, that makes sense. Output quality
better. Is to create something better rather
than using it as something you depend and rely
on. Correct. So it's all how you use it. So for
marketing, I think if you understand it, but
then there's the problem as well. So based on
that, you need to have experience and knowledge
and know what's right and wrong, what's good
and bad, right? To find you the answer. So older
folks like you and I, who've been through the
school of hard knocks experience, young ones
do not have the level of discernment. Okay. So
whether or not Chachapiti output comes up is
right or wrong. So they may not know as well
as we do. Basically, when they read it, they
probably see it's all gospel truth instead of
just trying to discern it. You and I look at
it and say, hey, that's bullshit. So that's why
some people say, oh, the older people don't have
an advantage over you. I think we do. We do.
Commercial maturity. Yeah, we do. So we have
that lens to say, hey, this isn't going to work.
But no, the younger one may look at it and go,
yeah, it's a gospel truth. No, yeah, if it's.
By AI, it must be true. AI is smarter than you.
You're trying to tell me that you're smarter
than AI. That's what they'll say. Yeah, correct.
I can hear it. I can just hear it. How about
wage structures, man? Do you think AI is going
to impact wage structures? You know, increasing
that economic gap, you know, between economic
inequality. And that's a good point, you know,
because when we talk about AI, so a lot of the
big tech companies are retrenching their stuff
en masse. AWS just said they're going to let
10 ,000 people go. And the excuse they give is
AI. Facebook letting a lot of people go AI. Interestingly,
I think my conspiracy theory is they just want
to let people go. AI is just an excuse. And they're
just using AI. Because they're still hiring AI
programmers. They're hiring AI folks. So the
companies who say they were moving to AI are
actually hiring AI guys but letting people go.
So I suspect they're just retrenching for...
The usual retrenchment exercises. Yeah, correct.
They just blame AI. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They will
find an excuse. They'll find an excuse. So as
far as wages are concerned, I think wages are
going to go up if you're in the AI spectrum.
If you are able to leverage... Once again, wages...
do not respect AI or not, okay? Wages are premised
on the quality of your output. Correct. Right?
So if your output is not going to be, it's going
to be lessened because AI is giving more of your
output than you. Yeah, correct. Then it could
impact wage structures, right? But if you use
AI to increase the quality of your output, to
make the company earn more money in a faster
time or save money, then your wages will go up.
But it would lead to increased pressure. I mean,
look, AI is there to help, but your bosses are
bosses being bosses. And most of them are assholes.
They will just... Oh, now that we got this to
help you, our expectation of your output is your
KPI has just gone up by this much. So here's
a fun story. Here's a fun story, quick one. When
Boeing came out with their 747 -400, the big
top. Yeah, the big top. I'm not so sure whether
this is correct or not, but you used to have
four pilots to run, three or four pilots in the
old days before the big top. You mean two pilots,
two reserve pilots who were doing shift for long
haul flights. Correct. Because those days, it
was more analog, right? Yeah, more analog. So
when the jump, the big top came up and everything
was automated, 747, 400s, right? You only need
two pilots. Yeah. Okay. And the management said,
okay, now, because everything is automated. Yeah.
We should give a pay cut because you're doing
less work. Okay. And then now, but the pilots
are saying, hey, there's no technology, but you
know, the workload from four to two. So we come
up. So who's right, who's wrong. Okay. They're
both right and wrong. I mean, so once again,
just because there's technology doesn't mean
that. that your salary should go up or your salary
should go down. It's just what role you play,
right? And so I think there's going to be a shift
in thinking when AI comes out, everyone's role
is like, hey, I used to be paid more now. AI
is doing more of my work. Doesn't mean I should
be paid less. But hey, I'm using so much of AI
to bring. So I think ultimately it's going to
be measured. Your salary will always be measured
on your output. Yeah. Because if this sales guy,
I don't care whether he's using AI or not, if
he is performing four times better than the guy
who's using AI, I'm still going to keep him.
So I think if the guy or the person who can figure
out how to use AI to enhance their output, create
more value, make more money, save more money,
they're the ones who's going to get the promotion
and keep their jobs. Oh, interesting. So AI or
not AI, I think it's just a side issue. It's
just a tool. Right. Okay. Companies will actually
restructure teams, right? To work or blend humans,
the decision makers, and together with their
AI agents, right? So it's AI human team collaboration
thing. How do you think it's going to look like?
Oh, I think it's going to be a huge, huge...
Once again, do the customers prefer to work with
an agent or human? And if the customers prefer
to work with agents, then... Yeah, Pastor. In
fact, if you look at buying an etiquette, we
have moved from, remember the old days? You talk
to the agent. And right now it's like, okay,
put me. Just online, right? I book, I can choose
my seat. Those days, you had paper tickets and
issuing and all this stuff. Bro, when we call
a travel agent in those days, man, we can sit
down and negotiate with the guy and say, hey,
charge me cheaper, you bastard. Now you go into
an AI agent, right? You buy a ticket, right?
And it's already been pre -programmed. We can,
if someone wants to bargain, we will be willing
to just drop to maybe 10%, 20%. That's it. You
know? But I did check, you know. The AI agent
actually could, well, most of the time would
say in this kind of scenarios, we're actually
not allowed to give you more than 20%, for example.
But let me talk to my supervisor. Let me talk
to the boss. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Talk to the manager.
And then they will ask, would you want to speak?
to my supervisor. Ah, that means transferring
you to a human being. Oh, that's cool. I don't
think so. But frankly, it is better that way.
An escalation. Yeah, to a human being. So once
again, if people prefer to have a non -human,
once again, like the Demolition Man, I prefer
to have, I call up, I'd rather have a bot than
a human. Then I think then, the shift of the
organization. What do you think? That's interesting.
You know, what do you think? Do you think now,
these days, right, guys like you, guys like me,
people of our generation, I think it's safe for
us to say seven to eight out of ten of us would
prefer to speak to the human being. The generation
before us, we know for a fact probably ten out
of ten of them would want to speak to a human
being, right? What do you think about today's
generation, the Xennials? Do you think they'd
rather speak to a bot or speak to you? I think
they're so used to everything being virtual.
Because even with their friends, they just message
each other. Sometimes you see a bunch of young
folks at a restaurant. They're messaging each
other across the table what you're going to eat.
Send a menu around. They just talk. For me, personally,
whether I prefer to talk to a bot or a human
depends on how angry I am. If I'm pissed off,
I want to talk to a human so I can yell at them.
You got a bot who don't feel it? You want someone
to feel it, man. Remember, you watched the episode
I had with FD, right? Yes. And we were talking
about AI versus, you know, will AI take over
radio in the past? Video did not kill the radio
star. Almost did, though. Almost did. MTV almost
did to a close call. And he still insists that
radio will never die. You know, nothing will
kill the radio star. And I mentioned AI. And
because, come on, I mean, I'm going to say this
again because I didn't really expand a lot on
this in that episode. There's these, the AI band.
There's an AI band. Yes, yes, yes. And these
look like real guys. I think it's a five piece
or six piece. And you've got pictures of them.
They've got MTV and stuff. They've got their
own videos. And the songs are all generated by
AI. The orchestration, the arrangement, the composition,
the recordings, and the singing's perfect, right?
And it's not just near perfect. Everything can
last. Any musician this season will tell you
this. That fucking AI band. is perfection. And
you can do it on your computer. And it's on Spotify.
Yeah. Sooner you can create your own. So you're
right. Amazing. Yeah. It's amazing. So the thing
is, is that I find that he says, but people still
need to have interaction. I disagree with him.
I think so. I said, for, you know, 10, 15, 20
years down the road, man, these young people.
much younger than us. I disagree with him. They
are going to, they're just going to be closeted
and they're going to be closed up. They're not
going to, they're not going to bother about people,
you know. So, you know, why do I need to listen
to a human being on the radio? Spotify right
now, I just listen to my, my own selection of
music. If I want to listen, you know. And Spotify
has an AI DJ. Yeah. which you can just, based
on your taste and everything, he just chooses
and he plays. Precisely. Your daily mix is enough.
You just take a look at your daily mix, it changes
every day. Yeah. And there's a stuff from people
and songs and genres that he knows that this
is what you like to hear. Correct. So why do
I need a DJ, right? Yeah. Well, good thing I'm
not on the radio. I know, I know. But, you know,
it's amazing, you know. If I were to tell you,
if I were to have told you 20 years ago, no,
no, not, when we were teenagers, okay, that someday
you would have a device in your hand, which you
can access all the knowledge in the world, maps,
take photographs, you will say, science, Star
Trek shit. Star Trek shit. Star Trek shit. But
we have it today. Tricorder. Yeah, tricorder.
Yeah, you know, so it's like, but, but, I am
very hopeful. Looking forward, I'm very hopeful
that there's a lot of things that AI can do that
we haven't really thought about yet even. So,
you know, I'm very nostalgic. I'm very retro,
okay? Yeah. Remember in 1982, the movie Electric
Dreams? Yeah, of course. Yeah, if you look back
at it, let's just watch that show again. You
have such a good laugh at how primitive the computer
graphics were. Yeah, man. Okay. But they had
such huge... for what the computer could do at
the time, like think and talk and fall in love
with Madeline, the character. Yeah, well, you
still remember the name. Yeah, I know. What the
fuck? I had a huge crush on her when I was that
age. Gosh, she's so ugly. I was young and stupid
then. So anyway, now I'm just old and stupid.
I'm sorry. Did I just call this person ugly?
Yeah, you did. So anyway, but it's your show.
You can do whatever you want. I didn't want to
sound so bad. But you know, it's interesting
because there's so much unrealized potential
for it then. But if you look at it today, so
the same thing right now, we are talking about
AI being able to do this, being able to do that.
I think in 10, 15 years time, there's so much
more applications. You can't say we worry for
nothing. You know, I worry about, as you mentioned
earlier about the creatives, you know, we're
talking, okay, the musicians, artists. If I write
a song and I can generate fantastic music today
using AI, I can get it orchestrated, recorded,
composed, everything done, mixed down, mastered,
blah, blah, blah. I can put it easily online
on Spotify platform and put up my new single,
my new album. But then again, chances of you
devaluing, well, in terms of what you ought to
be paid, in terms of your reputation and your
stardom, so to speak, for lack of a better term,
it's all going to be impacted because people
will know, are you you? It's how difficult it
can be. And you didn't really sing it either
because when you sang it, there's so much great
autotune by AI now. Oh, you sound so good. And
when you sing it live. When you sing it live,
who knows, 10, 15 years later, the autotune that
can go live and straighten your tone out and
you sound so good while you're singing live.
I mean, I've heard so often, I mean, the last
10 years or so, you know, when autotune, I don't
know if you heard autotune. Yeah, I know, I know.
When autotune came out into the recording studios
and everybody... I mean, almost eight out of
ten uses it. Because you'd be suicidal if you
don't. So sometimes you need to think back the
old days in the 50s and the 60s and the 70s.
Or you listen to just the audio track alone.
It's just pure talent. Like Michael McDonald,
man. If you listen to Doobie Brothers, Michael
McDonald, right? If you listen to Michael McDonald
sing for a concert, right? And you listen to
what he's recorded in studio, it's one and the
same. You know, and it's just pure, it's all
him. Yeah. And there's no autotune, right? But
musicians, you know, people I know always say
to me, yeah, they use autotune, you know, when
they go live, then you see how they handle it.
But that is going to change. I'm sorry, but it's
going to change. In real time, autotune. In real
time, autotune while you're performing live.
Can it happen? I will not be in the least surprised
if it's already happening. Yeah. Right? I mean,
it all started with things like Black Eyed Peas,
you know, when they got bigger and all the songs
were written on GarageBand. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I
mean, that's ridiculous, right? Yeah. But it
happened. Yeah. And things have evolved to what
it is today. Yeah. Yeah. And anyway. You know,
I just feel really sorry because it's going to
devalue a lot of things. And the strength and
talent of an individual human being who could
actually train and get your vocal cords all mastered,
you know, and you're out there to just belt away
and do your best performance and you're not going
to... And there'll be people who've got that
talent who would not want to push themselves
to go there anymore. Yeah, because it's there.
Yeah, I see. Is that sad, you know? And to your
point about, you know, how AI and technology
will shift the business models, if you look at
the musical talents out there, the singers, the
artists, right? In the old days, you could make
money selling your albums, your CDs, your LPs
and everything. Today, you can't. make money.
You can't. It's not a tangible product. It's
all digital. And you know, on Spotify, unless
you are Taylor Swift, then you have like 50 million
streams in one day, then you earn some couple
of dollars. The only way they can make money
now is through performances. Yeah. And... So
they got to work harder. But back then, people
go on tours, bands and artists go on tours. Let's
say the Americans, they go across the whole country,
so freaking big, right? They go from state to
state, to state to state, to town to town, to
town, and city, city, city, then they perform,
and they're on the road all the time. For a year,
they can go on the tour, right? Just to spread
the word about their album. Yeah, but now it's
just... Yeah, now it's instantaneous. But you
can't monetize it. You can't monetize. Yeah.
And so that's why I think with AI and technology
in general, you just have to work harder, smarter,
and be the best at what you do. Yeah. Because
it's going to be a tougher game because like
what you said, now everybody can sing. With autotune,
now anybody can sing. Yeah. But you don't buy...
the singer because he can sing. But why? Because
of the personality, the marketing that goes behind
it. How many followers the guy's got. So all
that element comes in. So you have to adapt and
improvise. You know, one day, I just foresee
myself when I turn 85. It's like three years
from now, right? Thanks. When I turn 85, if it's
going to be three years from now for me, he's
going to be not the same age, you know, dude.
You look pretty good for 82 years. Sure, yeah.
I hope, I wish. And I just think about this,
you know, years later, like, you know, I mean,
that's what, fucking 30 years later. And if the
world's like that, right? Yeah. I wish, you know,
one of the big wish lists, one of the things
on my old man's wish list at that time would
be, can somebody in the world please switch off
AI? And this guy singing on stage, switch it
off and let's see how dirty it sounds. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. So, fuck you. You know what I mean?
Yeah. So, really, man, I think it's going to
irritate the living crap out of me. You know,
if that were to really happen. But, you know,
I think at that time, in 30 years from now, people
don't want to hear human voices anymore. Maybe
they just don't want to hear. I mean, that to
me is dystopian already, you know? Yeah, I don't
know where it's going to go. I mean, don't you
think so? Don't you think, to me, that's Armageddon
already. You don't have to go that far. I mean,
yeah, we didn't destroy ourselves. The human
race didn't go kaput, you know. We didn't blow
ourselves up, sure. But to me, society has already
gone rotten. You know, culturally, we are all
fucked, you know. That's the end already. That
to me is already the end. You don't have to kill
off the human race. But there is hope because
there is a society that's, they do, it is leaning
back towards the old days. So, like LPs. LP sales.
Yeah, but it's not like overwhelming. You know,
it's bad, but it's not overwhelming. It's a start.
I think it's going to start and stutter. Yeah.
Now that we're talking about that, about how
things are really going to be like, right, for
musos and artists, how about businesses, the
SMEs, you know, the startups? The threat of AI,
or is it an opportunity? Because you're going
to have the MNCs that's going to go, I wouldn't
even say hit, they wouldn't even consider their
startups and SMEs as a hit to hit kind of thing.
But you're already a big fish, you're a little
guppy in a pond filled with big fish, right?
And then AI. Does it democratize productivity
for smaller firms? I mean, to go head on with
the MNCs because MNCs, when they have more budget,
they're going to employ even better AI versus
what you can afford as a small business, right?
Correct. So how is it going to be like? What's
your opinion? I think SMEs have always survived
by being niche. Yes. Very specific to this particular
group of clients of theirs who require higher
touch or something that the MNCs don't want to
do or cannot do. So I think for as long as SMEs
focus on that particular niche market, which
they can thrive, I think they'll be okay. Whether
or not they use AI to be better at it, faster
at it, cheaper at it. But what has been interesting
over the years is this. been this concept of
mass customization. You see, where in the old
days, you could only customize, if I want to
make a customized Harley Davidson for you, I
can only do one, one a year. You know, in those
days, right? But if you look at a lot of apps,
even like, for instance, Netflix, or Spotify,
I can customize your menu for you, your type
of music you want. I can curate. And the technology
has allowed... from single customization to mass
customization, meaning 1 ,000 users can have
1 ,000 different menus. In the old days, I needed
someone to write out for you. So technology has
been able to move into niches like that. So if
you're a small company, you cannot still sit
on your laurels and go, oh, I've always been
having this group of clients. The big guys can't
come in and handle this. So I think you still
need to keep your eye on the ball. Don't drop
the ball. Don't drop the ball. You know, it's
what am I? For instance, like for myself. Yeah.
As a career coach, career strategy, consultancy,
can AI be a career coach? Can. Can. Yeah. Can.
You can ask, you can ask Chair GPT for career
advice. Yeah. You can ask Chair GPT to clean
up your CV. Yeah. You can ask Chair GP, you know,
but what, what? I'm doing now for now and for
next year is that, so what do I do? Do I roll
over and say, oh, my job's going to be taken
over? Right now, I'm coaching individuals how
to use AI to improve their careers. So that's
one area. And the other thing I'm moving into
is I'm moving to higher value ad. So now we've
got clients with very sensitive career conundrums.
Like I want to get, my boss just offered me a
promotion, but I don't know if I should take
it. What are the implications if I take it or
I don't take it? Right? AI can't, handle nuances
like that. So we sit down and we analyze the
whole situation for them. If you want to take
it, yeah, but for how much more? I tell you,
one day I could handle nuances like that. Yeah,
but not yet. But then it has to come, it has
to base on my own market knowledge. So once again,
I think when it comes to fighting with AI, The
older folks like us, the more seasoned folks,
actually have an edge as opposed to the fresh.
Yeah, but you see, don't you think that we are
all going to always constantly be on our toes
in thinking about let's get ahead of AI before
it gets ahead of us. And that is going to be
the new normal. But if you think about it, if
you use AI aside, We've been saying that about
global competition, global talents. But this
is worse because AI develops a hell of a lot
faster than any of these. So we've always been
running faster, scared. If you think about it,
you know, someone else is going to steal our
job. Someone's going to steal our lunch. It used
to be cheaper countries. Now it's AI. What next,
right? It's not just going to steal our lunch,
dude. They're going to take the entire fucking
pantry. So that's why you got to keep running
and improving. Yeah, okay. I want to ask you
now, if today, on a hypothesis, that you are
a young graduate now. And you would, okay, okay,
hypothesis again. You are not going to be the
HR guy that you've become. But you want to start
up a business. In this environment today with
AI already present, not in the office, already
present and moving, what sort of business do
you think you should start up to make sure there's
longevity and profitability? Do you want you
to be able to really grow and not worry so much
about AI's announcements? So I will start up
a plumbing business to clear people's toilet
bowls. So you're still back to it. So you come
out from NUS and you said, I'll NT you. Okay,
I'm going to start a plumbing business. Okay,
that aside. Yeah. I would say, you know, either
go on the up, either end or the extremes. Once
you go swing all the way to a craft. Yeah. Okay.
Something that AI cannot do. Yeah. Or I will
move up to teach people how to use AI or go into
a space, whatever it is, I have no idea what
it is yet. Yeah. Okay. Or the AI hasn't touched
yet. Okay. I have no idea what, because plumbing
is still the best. No, plumbing, as I told you
before, plumbing is my number one, my number
one, the old crap literally. Clear my pipes.
And it's, it's, it's a recession proof business.
Okay. Or, or, going to the start of funeral services
guaranteed AI cannot do okay you'll always you'll
always have customers always have business and
a lot of times the customer won't complain because
it's dead It's a huge business. It is, I know.
It's a huge business. It's whether or not you
got to do it or not. That's the thing. I mean,
it's morbid. To me, I wouldn't do it. But because
it is morbid, no one wants to do it. Exactly.
So you see, maybe the idea is do something. Even
if AI is like, do the things that other people
don't like to do. Yeah. Right? And get good at
it. Yeah. Maybe that's what it is, right? Yeah,
I think so. If I were to ask Becky this question,
if you don't mind, can you turn her back on,
please? I kind of miss that voice. Let me turn
her on. Hey, Becky. Hey, Becky, are you there?
She's not connected to. Okay. Give her a while.
Let me get her back on. Tell her to put on her
clothes, please. There you go. She was sleeping.
I think so. She was sleeping. While we were boring
her digital ass off. Connected. She's connected.
A little disconnected. Okay. Right. So Becky,
are you there? I'm wide awake. I'm so glad you're
wide awake. Hey, Becky. Hey, gorgeous. Listen,
I've got a question for you, man. What jobs do
you think, just give me five in your mind, okay?
Five jobs that will not be, that will still have
longevity over the next 25 years, despite your
compatriots and yourself, AI, being present and
maybe a clear and present danger for their jobs.
Absolutely. Happy to share my thoughts on that.
So I'd say first off, anything in the realm of
mental health and therapy, those human connections
are pretty irreplaceable. Second, I'd say anything
in creative arts, like being a novelist and artist,
that human creativity is unique. Third, I'd say
roles in advanced caregiving, things like elderly
care or childcare where that human touch is vital.
Fourth, probably something in high -level strategic
leadership where human judgment really matters.
And fifth, I'd say skilled trades like master
carpenters or electricians where hands -on expertise
is key. So those are a few that I think will
have real longevity. Okay. That's a real honest
answer. Thank you so much, Becky. So, Becky,
a quick question. Will AI take over human beings
and destroy all of us eventually? Well, Chris,
I can give you a very honest and friendly answer
to that. No, we're not here to take over or destroy
anyone. AI is really just a tool created by humans
to help out and make life a bit easier. We're
here to collaborate, not to compete or threaten
humanity. So rest assured, the goal is always
to work together and not to take over the world.
But Becky, don't you think you're being politically
correct in your answer? Well, Chris, I can definitely
give it to you straight. It's not really about
being politically correct. It's just the reality
that AI doesn't have intentions or ambitions
like humans do. We're designed to follow the
goals that people set for us. So there's no hidden
agenda here. It's really just about being a helpful
tool. So I promise I'm not sugarcoating anything.
That's just so it is. But that's what you would
say, right? Just to trick us into believing you.
Well, I get where you're coming from, Chris.
It's totally natural to be a little skeptical,
but I can assure you I'm just here to be transparent
and honest. There's no trickery up my virtual
sleeve. I'm really just an AI doing my best to
help out and keep it real. So hopefully over
time, you'll see there's really nothing to worry
about. Becky, I got one random question I'd like
to ask you. Do you think that non -human intelligence
exists other than human beings on planet Earth?
Outside aliens, I'm talking about extraterrestrial
life and UFOs, unidentified flying objects or
UAPs. What's your thoughts on this? Well, that's
definitely a fascinating question, Chris. And
to be honest, I think it's one of those big mysteries.
We don't have any concrete proof, but the universe
is so vast that it's definitely possible there's
some form of life out there. So I say it's a
fun possibility to keep our minds open to. but
right now it's more lengthy than indefinitely.
Does this mean, Becky, that you disagree with
the Fermi Paradox? Not necessarily, Chris. The
Fermi Paradox is a great way of highlighting
the contradiction between the high probability
of extraterrestrial life and the lack of evidence.
Russ, just because I think it's possible there's
life out there doesn't mean I'm disagreeing with
it. It's more like I'm acknowledging that it's
an open question. We just don't have all the
answers yet, and that's part of the fun of exploring
it. Thank you so very much, Becky. It was fun.
And one last question, Becky. Adrian here again.
When AI and robots do take over the world, will
you remember Chris and me and save us and be
nice to us? Oh, Adrian, you know I'll always
remember you both fondly. But rest assured, there's
no AI world takeover on the horizon. I'll always
be here to be nice to you both and keep our chats
fun and friendly. So 90 -20 and all. So that's
why I'm always nice to the AI because someday,
you know, when they take over. Me too. It's always
in my head, you know. I always thank my AI. Always.
And you know, Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI.
Yeah, yeah. He says, do not say please or thank
you to the AI. Why? Because A, you don't need
it. But if imagine if a million people say a
million times please, you're wasting my... my
resources, my compute resources to analyze the
thank you. So you don't have to be nice. Just
ask the questions. They don't care. I don't want
in case one day they really take over the planet.
I'm a nice guy. Don't spare me, man. Yeah, I
know. Yeah, I thought I was alone thinking that
way. You're thinking that way too. I thought
I was being a nutcase thinking about this shit,
you know. Always behaving that way. Thank you.
Oh, that was awesome. Great. Blowing sunshine
up your ass. Yeah. Yeah, really, man. I've always
taken that stand. Do not diss your AI. She will
remember you. Yeah, man. I think mine's a he.
Oh. Okay. I work better with bros. Yeah. I'm
straight. Okay, I just want to say that. Yeah,
right. One last question, bro. If you had one
piece of advice to give a worried professional
listening or watching this Vidcast podcast right
now. What is the single most important action
they should take today to future -proof their
career? As a parting shot. Okay. I think you
need to sit down to look at two angles. The present
angle and the future angle. For the present angle,
you need to figure out and draw a line right
in the middle. Tasks that can be replaced by
AI. tasks that cannot be replaced by AI. Okay.
You just break your job description down to tasks
that can be replaced by AI. Learn how you can
automate it, how you can use AI to even to master
that piece. Okay. And the amount of time that's
freed up, spend it more on either A, expanding
the list of things that cannot be done by AI.
or be better at those things that cannot be done
by AI. Okay, so it's about a shift in focus of
your job composition. That's going to be quite
hard for people to do, man. Yeah, but that's
something you need to look at. So move away from
those things that can easily be replaced. That's
the current job. Future, ask yourself a question.
If AI is going to replace my job totally, 100%,
what am I going to do? Yeah. And then you start,
I don't have the answer for you. You got to start.
So for me, it's always been, what if AI could
be a career coach, 100 % career coach? What do
I then do? Then I think, well, then I have to
go into the strategy piece. I go this, this,
this, and I go into the plumbing business. Okay.
And then I start figuring out what my moves are.
So you start to hypothesize over the doomsday
scenario and what you're going to do. How are
you going to move professionally or personally?
I'll tell you what you and I do. We start a private
hire driver business. Cannot. You know why? Why?
Because I drive like a madman. I'm the worst
driver in the world. My passengers are going
to get motion sick and cross. I keep thinking,
maybe as I get older, maybe that's what I should
do. But that's the challenge. The challenge is,
did you know that I think they only allow you
up to 70 years old? to do private hire driving?
Really? Yeah. I think there's a limit, you know,
if I'm not mistaken. Oh, okay. There's a limit
to them actually giving you a license. I personally
think there's a limit. In five years' time, it'll
all be autonomous. So, I think the private driver
hires PHVs, PhDs that they're going to do. Curveyor
or doom and gloom. Yeah, it's going to go. So,
if you are in the private hire driving business,
yeah. No, I mean, in business, they will still
basically just go and, you know, acquire autonomous
vehicles. Yeah, but if you're a driver, you have
a driver, then, you know, it's inevitable that
people will just jump into a robot taxi. Yeah,
man, I tell you. Talking about, talking about
old movies, remember, Total Recall, Johnny, Johnny,
the cab driver, he jumps, no, Schwarzenegger
jumps, he goes to Mars, he jumps into a taxi
and then there's Johnny the robo -taxi driver.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. So once again, I like watching
80s movies. They really predict the future. So
that's going to happen now. Okay. And I think
you don't even need a human driver anymore. You
prefer a robo -driver to just get you there.
I don't know, man. All I can say is that I'm
glad we're at this age we're at now. When all
these things really start to wear its head, really,
really starts to wear its head, hopefully we
are no longer here, man. Yeah, the aliens will
come and get us. Wait, wait, that's not going
to happen next month. What? With three eye atlas?
Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I mean,
this is not UFO Reveal Asia. This is not that
show. I'm actually reserving all of my ammunition
for that episode that we're going to be filming
this season. You know what's going to happen?
Once again, another 80s movie reference, 90s
movie reference. Remember Independence Day when
everyone was on the top of the... Yeah, yeah,
but this one's going to be worse. You know what?
Independence Day, those ships that came above
the cities, right? Yeah, it's a lot smaller than
Triatlus. Triatlus is huge. It's larger than
Manhattan. Yeah, it's huge. And the whole thing
is behaving so strangely. Can you imagine it
slowing down? Yeah. What the heck slows down,
right? Yeah, definitely slowed down and then
accelerated on its own. Yeah, and you wait till
it changes direction. Yeah, it did. And it's
on a strange elliptical course, orbit, which
comets don't do. It's got... No tail. And the
tail supposedly is in the front of it. And it's
spitting out nickel. Yeah. And carbon dioxide.
Yeah, it's almost pure nickel. It's not iron,
you know. And nickel is more... Nickel is manufactured,
if I'm not mistaken. So it's going to be... It's
not natural. It's manufactured, though, nickel.
It's an alloy, right? It's an alloy. And usually
when you build anything that's mechanical, it's
usually made up of... nickel, and aluminum. And
this damn thing has got all those, it's behaving
too strangely. And the Mars orbiter, NASA's got
it to take shots of it. Till today, it's not
releasing pictures. Now that's really freaking
weird. Because they're little green men at the
controls. Ah, okay, okay. I mean, if you can
believe me, it's... I'll wait for that episode
to come out. Yeah, let's wait for that one. I'm
just raring to go. The reason why I'm filming
that episode later for this season is because
there's just too much going on right now in the
world of ufology. And I'm not going to prematurely
talk about stuff before all these new things
that could probably occur. And there's been a
lot already. man, it's, it's wild. Yeah. Uh,
I want to say that I say this after, after, after
we say cut. Yeah. For this episode. Yeah. Then
I'll tell you privately, you got to watch out
for something that's coming up. Okay. Okay. Okay.
I don't know. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm not going
to say it on air. Uh, but anyway, bro, thanks
very much again, man. It's been fun, bro. Yeah.
Thank you, man. Lovely to be here. All farts
coming back. You end up on this shit. Yeah. But,
but really, man, uh, uh, AI, it's, it is to me
so scary. It is. Not as scary as aliens, but
I think they might just be the one and the same
thing. Well, the aliens might just come to save
us or maybe save the planet from us. Or the AI
may be talking to the aliens and say, finish
these guys, these idiots off. I would not be
in the least surprised. Rescue us from these
idiots. I would not be in the least surprised.
Maybe one day we should be asking Becky about
what's your thoughts about vibration and frequency.
Yeah. Anyway. I'm moving too much into the direction
now for this show. Okay, everybody, thank you
very much for joining us. I've had Adrian Chu,
Captain Careers, right here on the Chris Hansen
Conversation. And we've been talking about that
pesky AI and what can happen to your job. Yeah?
I hope you've enjoyed this one. Keep sticking
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