To my fellow Gen Xers worried AI is going to take your job: Take a chill pill

• Some Gen Xers might worry that the fast rise of AI bodes ill for their job security.
• But the reality for this age group — born between 1965 and 1980 — might turn out to be OK.
• In an AI-driven workplace, Gen Xers will have new responsibilities, which could suit them well.

Are any other Gen Xers out there reading headlines about artificial intelligence stealing jobs feeling a creeping sense of existential dread? 

Because for all the promise these emerging technologies hold, they also have a way of making some of us, ahem, more mature workers feel soon-to-be obsolete. 

The prospect of AI is horrifying for my generation for a few reasons. For one, middle age — which Gen Xers, born between 1965 and 1980, now occupy — is typically when people reach an elevated status in the workforce and hit their peak earning years, both of which AI threatens. 

And given that we lack the same level of technological fluency as younger generations born in this digital era, AI is intimidating for many of us. (I've only just mastered the apps for my children's various sports teams.)

What's more, we have fewer years left to retrain for new careers and we're time-crunched to do that anyway. We're in the sandwich phase of life: Many of us are caring for kids and aging parents. 

This is all to say that AI coming for our jobs now is highly inconvenient.

But what if the reality for Gen Xers isn't so awful? What if our jobs and our hard-earned standing will be OK, and perhaps even better than OK?

Research suggests that while some jobs will disappear, many more new and better-paying jobs will be created. Regardless, your job will be different, said Yossi Sheffi, an engineering professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the author of a new book about AI and the future of work. "ChatGPT is not going to replace you," Sheffi told Insider. "But it is going to change your job, so you have to learn it."

He said jobs of the future will likely entail less content generation and more quality control. AI is not infallible and requires constant monitoring. In journalism, for instance, AI can turn the transcript of an interview into a news article, but a human is still needed to provide supervision, judgment, and context. (Phew!)

For Gen Xers who are the experienced professionals in their organizations, these new responsibilities could turn out to suit them quite well. On the other hand, Gen Zers and other younger workers not yet proficient in their jobs might struggle in an AI-driven workplace. It's up to Gen X to make sure that doesn't happen.

AI is not necessarily a young person's game

When a new technology comes along, its benefits typically accrue to the young.

The assumption is that younger people are more open to experimentation, more willing to take risks, and better able to adapt — and that older, more expensive workers will quickly be put out to pasture. 

But because of the blistering speed of AI advancements, all bets are off, said Matt Beane, an assistant professor of technology management at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He told Insider that the emergence of AI today would be like if we'd discovered electricity with the electrical grid already in existence. 

"Economists say that it usually takes a new, general-purpose technology about 10 to 20 years to percolate," he said. "Maybe this one is going to be faster — and it's a figment that the 22-year-old is going to be OK."

Beane noted how AI is already used in medicine, for example. Before the rise of robotic surgery, there was a master-apprentice coordination, in which a surgical trainee performed much of the preparatory work for the senior surgeon. The relationship allowed the newbie to be involved in procedures and develop the skills to one day be in charge. With robotic surgery, however, the lead surgeon takes control and trainees are all but eliminated. 

The same dynamic is repeating itself in other fields, said Beane. AI extends the productivity and capability of the "expert," while the younger person gets cut off.

At the same time, he said, seasoned professionals do need to figure out how to use the technology in the first place. This will get easier as new tools emerge; in the meantime, younger workers have a leg up. Not only are they digital natives, young people are usually unburdened with families and as many obligations and so have the luxury of time to learn.

Beane's latest research points to a solution: inverted apprenticeships, whereby younger employees teach senior ones. "It's sort of like when senior people turn to the junior people and say, 'What's all this TikTok stuff and how do I get wise with it?'" he said. 

But his research, in collaboration with the New York University professor Callen Anthony, shows that when older workers mindlessly mooch knowledge off their colleagues, it can make life harder for the novices. "Most inverted apprenticeships are destructive to the junior person because they end up getting cut out of the senior person's work or overloaded with scut work," Beane said. 

"The expert has power, status, and skill, and isn't liable to notice when they're swamping a novice en route to competence with a new technology," he said.

That's why Gen Xers in these inverted apprenticeships bear some responsibility to ensure their younger colleagues acquire the know-how they need to thrive in their careers. One way to do that is by cultivating skills that robots don't have, namely emotional intelligence.

Embracing the humanity that AI lacks

AI's limitations are many: It doesn't understand context, can't form friendships, and lacks a moral code.

These characteristics and abilities are why organizations will still need human employees — particularly Gen Xers who have a wealth of work experience under their belts, said Charla Griffy-Brown, a professor of information-systems technology management at Pepperdine's Graziadio Business School.

To be sure, Gen Xers' anxiety that AI has upended their glide path toward retirement is understandable. "You're at a point in your life where you're naturally concerned with what's happening next, and you're thinking: 'Now I'm competing with non-carbon-based workers?'" she said.

But that worry is misplaced. "Employers need people with skills and abilities outside the scope of machines," she said.

People skills such as empathy and communication will be in high demand, Griffy-Brown said. "As social beings, human interaction is central to work culture and it will continue to be," she said. "Businesses need managers with emotional intelligence who can build relationships. These skills will increase in importance."

Gen Xers who are still uneasy about AI — angst is our specialty, after all — can take solace in the numbers. A recent study by Korn Ferry, the recruiting company, found there could be a global human-talent shortage of more than 85 million people by 2030. That's about equivalent to the population of Germany, according to the research, which included a country-by-country analysis.

"AI is going to help us bridge this talent gap rather than take our jobs away," Dhiraj Sharma, the CEO of Simpplr, which makes AI-powered employee-productivity tools, told Insider.

Worrying is futile, he added. "Things are never as good as they appear or as bad as they appear," he said. "That's not about AI — that's nearly 50 years of life experience talking."