Farmers, Tech and AI

A couple of weeks ago, on my flight back to Phoenix from a conference, I sat next to a middle-aged farming couple from Tennessee. It was a 3-hr flight, and we got to talking.

"What do you do?" the husband asked.
"I'm a data scientist."
"What scientist?"
"...I'm a software engineer." (Not exactly, but easier to explain.)

His eyes lit up. "Oh! Do you work in AI?"
"Well, yes."
"Is AI going to replace us all?" He lowered his voice.
"No... not yet, I believe."
"I saw on the news that AI might evolve on its own and get rid of us. Is that real?"
"AI needs electricity. We can always unplug it... I guess?"
"You’ve got a point." He looked relieved.

Then I added, "And AI will replace white-collar jobs before it replaces blue-collar ones."
"Really?!" He was surprised.

"Yeah, jobs like mine will be taken away faster than yours. It’s already happening in tech. CEOs are eager to replace human labor with AI. AI is cheaper, scales faster, and never sleeps."

"But why are blue-collar jobs safer?"
"Because building physical robots is harder and more expensive. But someday, that cost will drop too."

He went quiet for a second. "Wow... AI is so... evil."

"It’s not AI," I said. "AI doesn’t have free will. It’s capitalism that wants to replace humans, because it’s cheaper and doesn’t ask for health insurance or weekends off."

"I can see that..." he sighed.

I tried to comfort him. "Your job is safer than mine," for now, I quietly added. "Plus, you have a farm. You’ll never have to worry about feeding your family. These days, more and more tech workers are actually trying to leave the industry for blue-collar work."

He shook his head. "That’s not going to be easy."

We fell into a thoughtful silence. As the pilot announced our descent into Phoenix, we started chatting about the heat wave instead.

Before we got off the plane, I said, "Keep hydrated and stay cool!"
The couple smiled and replied, "Thank you! I hope your job doesn’t get replaced by AI too soon."

He meant it. He really did.