Here's the thing about AI that keeps getting lost in all the doomsday rhetoric: it doesn't erase work, it reshapes it.

Every major technological shift in history followed the same pattern. The printing press didn't kill writers—it created an entirely new industry around them. Automation in manufacturing didn't end employment; it shifted the workforce toward different skill sets. ATMs were supposed to put bank tellers out of business, but the number of tellers actually grew for years after their introduction.

What's happening now with artificial intelligence is no different, just faster and more visible.

Yes, certain roles will disappear. Repetitive, rule-based work—data entry, basic transcription, routine analysis—will increasingly be handled by AI systems. That's real and worth acknowledging. But here's what the panic narratives miss: the jobs that vanish are rarely the ones people actually want to do.

Meanwhile, entirely new categories of work emerge. Someone needs to train AI models, audit their outputs, handle the edge cases machines struggle with, and manage the transition itself. The skill premium shifts—you'll need different expertise, more specialized knowledge, stronger critical thinking. That's disruptive, sure. It's uncomfortable. But it's not apocalyptic.

The real challenge isn't technology replacing humans. It's the lag time between disruption and adaptation. Workers in declining fields need retraining opportunities. Education systems need to pivot faster. Policy needs to support people through transitions, not protect jobs that are already obsolete.

AI will change the job market dramatically. But if history is any guide—and it usually is—humans will adapt, learn new things, and find new ways to add value. We always do.