We’ve now reached the era where our jobs might be replaced by artificial intelligence. None of us are really immune to the impacts that AI will have on our jobs but I wasn’t expecting it to hit my household quite so soon.
No, it wasn’t my tech job that was replaced … yet. It wasn’t even my wife’s job, but instead it was my dog Charlie’s career that was impacted.
Yes, that’s right. It was my sweet little doggo, who is now attempting to draw unemployment benefits and it’s not going very well considering he doesn’t pay taxes.
You see, my dog, Charlie, has been doing some modelling for a national grocery chain here in the United States. And to be totally fair, he wasn’t really getting paid for doing this modelling but it was fun to see our dog on the packaging of dog sweaters and rain coats. (Yeah, I said rain coats, even ones with little duckies on it.) He was the famous celebrity in our house and if you met him, you’d know he was famous. He has a little bit of “diva” in him.
But now, the company that was “hiring” him to pose for pictures has replaced him with a stuffed dog and using AI to enhance the images to look like a real dog.
Dealing with Rejection
I’m very proud that Charlie hasn’t been letting his recent job loss get him down. In fact it’s like he doesn’t even realize he’s out of a job. He still barks at people walking along the bike path next to our house. He still begs for food like the rest of us are his personal chefs, and requires belly rubs frequently. In some ways I think he’s doing great, but I can’t help but to feel bad for him that he was replaced by a stuffed animal.
After we found out the news, I had a long (one-way) talk with Charlie. I wanted to let him know that this wasn’t his fault, and he didn’t do anything wrong. He was a good boy, and still so handsome, but the world was starting to pass him by now that he’s five years old. We discussed the fact that we can’t stop progress from happening, our jobs were to simply learn to adjust to the world around us and to do the best that we can with our talents and skills. Sure, we can be justifiably mad about what’s happened, but in the end, a new obstacle was in our way and we had to adjust to it like any life change.
Today, Charlie has decided to hang up his work collar, and will focus on family and enjoying his early retirement. We don’t think he’ll go back to work and will simply enjoy laying around the house and chasing other dogs walking by our house. He’s handled the entire situation with grace and dignity and hasn’t let this set back get him down.
I really hope I can learn from how my dog handled this situation … when AI inevitably comes for my job. Hopefully I recognize it for what it is…
- Progress comes for us all in a long enough timeline.
- It’s not our fault if technology outpaces our careers and eventually replaces us.
- We have to adjust to the world around us even when it doesn’t feel fair.
- We prepare the best we can to adapt to a changing world. We don’t dig in our heels because we don’t like it.
Charlie didn’t update his resume or stress about his LinkedIn profile. He just kept being Charlie, barking at strangers, demanding belly rubs, and somehow convincing us he deserved a treat for doing absolutely nothing. If that’s not resilience, I don’t know what is. Maybe the lesson isn’t that complicated: show up, be yourself, and if all else fails, look cute enough that someone feeds you anyway.
I’d like to believe that I can be all Hakuna Matata about what pitfalls my career may sink into because of AI. I’m old enough and accomplished enough that I don’t feel like I should have to worry about my future, but the world moves fast, and I can’t help but worry. Not just for myself, but for my kid. What does their career landscape look like in ten or twenty years? Will the skills we tell them to develop today even matter? I don’t have good answers to those questions, and honestly that’s the part that keeps me up at night more than my own job security.
Charlie doesn’t worry about any of that. But then again, someone else buys his dog food.