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As more than 19 million U.S. college students prepare to wrap up their fall semester and begin looking ahead to securing internships and jobs next spring, its natural for themand their familiesto worry about the fate of the job market in the age of AI. Indeed, Anthropics CEO predicted this summer that within the next five yearsand maybe even sooneradoption of AI could reduce entry-level hiring in white-collar professions by 50%. The impact is already being felt: postings for early-career corporate jobs are down 15%, while applications have spiked 30%. A separate Stanford study found that AI displacement, at this point, seems to be disproportionately affecting younger workers. To be sure, these changes are unsettling. Butdespite current, often overheated rhetorictheyre not unprecedented. Of course, weve heard about the lamplighters and horseshoe makers. A hundred years ago, they were displaced by electricity and cars, and the economy soldiered on and they found something else to do. But the internet bubble 25 years ago, when we were first launching our own careers, is an even more salient example. Discourse around the emerging information superhighway also sparked dystopian predictions that tens of millions of people would lose their jobs to internet-enabled automation, leading to the end of work. The job displacement, in some cases, was real. One of us (Dorie) began her career as a journalist at a weekly newspaper and, only a year into her first job, was laid off when the economics of the ad-supported paper faltered. But Dorielike most of usmanaged to adapt, finding new jobs in politics and nonprofit management before becoming an entrepreneur. And the overall economy did just fine, with a current unemployment rate of just 4.3%, compared with 4.9% in 2001, when Dorie lost her job. The pattern is also clear in terms of individuals lived experience. Alexis, along with her coauthor Nancy Hill, has researched Harvards Class of 1975, examining generational differences and patterns. Her surprising conclusion is that the experience of todays college students is remarkably similar to that of students 50 years prior. Despite changing external circumstances (whether its campus protests about the Vietnam War or Gaza, and the political realities of a Nixon or a Trump administration), students professional hopes and worries remain fundamentally the same. Can I find a career that feels interesting and meaningful? What are the best skills to cultivate, and where should I focus my professional development? Can I support myself, and eventually a family, in changing economic conditions? Soin the midst of these real, but familiar, concernswhat advice can we share about how to prepare for the age of AI without panicking? 1. Use AI as a competitive advantage First, take advantage of the fact that theres no incumbency advantage in AI use now. If youre a newly minted law school graduate, a senior partner with 30 years professional experience and connections will almost always hold an advantage over you in their knowledge of case law and ability to land clients. But no professional outside academia has 30 years experience in AI, so young professionals have just as much of an opportunity as anyone to gain knowledge, expertise, and professional stature through their deployment of AI in their jobs. Indeed, AI is especially valuable for young adults, as studies show that AI usage is most beneficial for employees with the least experience. 2. Focus on developing a transferable skill set Second, focus on developing broad, transferable skill sets. We saw what happened when conventional wisdom (from politicians to business leaders) converged on the idea that everyone needed to be trained in software coding. Now, in the wake of layoffs at major tech companies and slowed hiring, newly minted software engineers are struggling to find jobs. If professional reinvention will be necessary for most of us throughout the course of our careers, we need to cultivate skills that can apply in multiple domains. For instance, when Dorie lost her job as a journalist, she applied her writing experience and knowledge of politics (the beat she covered) to pivot to her next job as a campaign spokesperson. 3. Build relationships Finally, lean into interpersonal relationships, becauseunlike youAI cant go to the watercooler. With enough data about meetings and emails, its true that it can analyze professional networks and see webs of influence within organizations. (Though many organizations are a long way from being able to fully deploy and capture the power of that analysis.) But, at least for the time being, AI wont be able to pick up on whats not captured in writing, from breakroom gossip and speculation to whispered advice and traded favors. Of course, were not suggesting that you become a Machiavellian operator, wielding insinuations and demanding reciprocity. But, in all of the discourse about what AI can and cant replace, it seems clear that interpersonal connections – and the deep-seated principles that govern them, such as the general desire to reciprocate good deeds that others have done for us – are likely to persist. Investing in understanding other people and trying to help them where possible still seems like a worthy bet in the age of AI. In the past, young professionals could and did adapt to the new technological reality and find ways to make it their own. We believe this will happen againand perhaps this might even take some of the pressure off the college experience, as students realize no one can predict the future and therefore, theres no right answer to be had as we navigate life choices.
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E-Commerce
Amazon’s Fire TV lineup has gone from a perfectly simple concepta stick that streams videoto a corporate naming convention nightmare. Theres the HD, the 4K Select, the 4K Plus, the 4K Max, and the Cube. Clear as mud. Lets try to make sense of this lineup, shall we? The Budget Basement: Fire TV Stick HD The Fire TV Stick HD is your entry point. It handles 1080p, and that’s pretty much the whole story. It works fine for an older TVthe kind you put in the guest room or the garage. At $25, its cheap, it’s simple, and it’s a little slow, both performance-wise and thanks to its aging Wi-Fi 5 chipset. If you have a 4K television, walk past this one and don’t look back. If you insist on buying it, wait for a sale. They happen often. The New Low-End: Fire TV Stick 4K Select Ah, the “Select.” This is Amazon’s latest attempt to offer a budget 4K option. Yes, it does 4K, and yes, at $40, its reasonably cheap. But you need to know what youre losing. For starters, it skimps on internal memory (1GB of RAM), meaning itll feel a bit sluggish. Like the HD, its hamstrung with Wi-Fi 5. And perhaps more importantly, it skips Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos. Those two formats are crucial for getting the best picture and sound out of a modern 4K TV and sound system. The lag you’ll feel is a constant reminder that you saved a few bucks. If the price doesnt drop ludicrously low, proceed with caution. Middle Road Mastery: Fire TV Stick 4K Plus The Fire TV Stick 4K Plus is the renamed and now slightly easier-to-understand mid-tier offering (it was the Fire TV Stick 4K). For most people, this is the smart, safe purchase. For just $10 more than the Select, it brings back the crucial features the Select is missing: a full 2GB of RAM for snappy performance, full support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and Wi-Fi 6 for more stable streaming. Ironically, at the time of this writing, its actually on sale for $10 less than the Select, making it a total no-brainer. Its the baseline where your 4K TV finally gets to stretch its legs and deliver the visual punch it was designed for. When in doubt, start here. Performance King: Fire TV Stick 4K Max The Fire TV Stick 4K Max is the stick for the enthusiast, the gamer, and the person who simply hates waiting for stuff to load. The $60 4K Max takes the “Plus” model and stuffs it with extra muscle: a faster processor, 16GB of storage (double the others for more apps), and, most critically, Wi-Fi 6E. If you have a compatible router, Wi-Fi 6E gives you a dedicated, fast lane for streaming, virtually eliminating buffering and lag, especially when the rest of the house is clogging the network. If you plan on doing any cloud gaming, or just want the smoothest, most responsive experience without buying a whole cube, the 4K Max is the clear winner. The All-Powerful Hub: Fire TV Cube While the Fire TV Cube is not stick-shaped, its the big dog here, a streaming box that makes even the 4K Max look like childs play. Its processor is the fastest of the bunch and includes an integrated Ethernet port for a rock-solid wired connection. Its main party trick is hands-free Alexa control. You can tell your TV to switch inputs, turn on the lights, and launch a show without ever touching the remote. This is a powerful, top-tier device built for the smart home fanatic, with a $140 price tag. If your entertainment center is your smart home control panel, and money is less of an object, the Cube is your choice. For everyone else, its probably overkill. The bottom line Skip the HD unless you have an HD-only TV Be wary of the 4K Select; it strips out too many key premium features to justify the small savings The 4K Plus is a solid, well-rounded performer If you want the best performance for your dollarthe perfect balance of speed, features, and future-proofingit’s the Fire TV Stick 4K Max If you want it all and then some, the Cube is for you
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E-Commerce
For decades now, tech companies have been promising us a future straight out of Star Trek. Instead of being confined to phones and computers, our digital lives would extend to a network of screens all around us, from connected TVs and smart fridges to kitchen countertop displays and car dashboards. The tech companies called this “ambient computing” or “ubiquitous computing” and extolled how it would get technology out of the way so we could focus on the real world. Here’s what we’ve got instead: Samsung’s smart refrigerators, which range from $1,899 to $3,499, have started showing advertisements on their screens. Amazon’s Echo Show smart displays now have ads that you can’t turn off, even if you’re paying $20 per month for the upgraded Alexa+ assistant. Amazon also shows “Sponsored Screensavers” on its Fire TV devices if you leave them alone for a few minutes. Tesla recently pushed a promotion for Disney’s Tron: Ares to its car dashboards. They got the ambient part right, in that we’ve now surrounded ourselves with screens we don’t control. But instead of blending into the background, the screens are now doing the opposite, distracting us with ads in hopes of padding their makers’ bottom lines. Promises made Ambient computing got its start in a more idealistic setting, in the late 1980s at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center. Mark Weiser, then the head of PARC’s computer science lab (and later its chief technology officer) used the term “ubiquitous computing” to describe how an array of screens in various sizes”tabs, pads and boards“would all work in tandem to help people accomplish everyday tasks. “Machines that fit the human environment, instead of forcing humans to enter theirs, will make using a computer as refreshing as taking a walk in the woods,” he wrote. Tech companies started dusting off the idea a couple decades later, as lightweight processors, low-cost displays, and widespread internet connectivity made ambient computing more feasible. In 2013, for instance, Microsoft opened an “Envisioning Center” to test its ambient computing ideas, including head-to-toe touchscreens for kitchens and common areas. Cisco demoed a “Second Screen 2.0” concept, with screens that could blend into the surrounding walls and provide personalized information as needed. Samsung had an even bolder vision, releasing a “Display Centric World” concept video full of rollable, foldable, and transparent displays. “Technology begins with a love for you,” the video declared, before showing how Samsung’s screens would someday wrap around coffee cups, unfurl from night stands, light up inside car windows, and cover classroom walls. The term “ambient computing” took hold a few years later. In 2017, the tech columnist Walt Mossberg used the term to describe technology that got out of your way, and pretty soon both Google and Amazon were running with it. The technology just fades into the background when you dont need it,” Rick Osterloh, Google’s SVP of devices and services, declared during a 2019 keynote. He continued to describe Google’s constellation of connected phones, watches, speakers, and smart displays as “ambient computing” in the years that followed, and in 2022 called it the company’s “north star.” Dave Limp, Amazon’s former senior vice president of devices and services favored the similar term “ambient intelligence,” describing how cloud computing would power a network of smart gadgets from Echo speakers to Fire TV streaming players. An Amazon Developer blog post from 2021 declared that “ambient is the future,” and would “make life easier and better without getting in your way.” Once the stuff of imagination, ambient computing had arrived in earnest, but there was a problem: The utopian ideal was at odds with how these companies make money. Cheap screens you can’t control It’s not enough to merely sell the device, be it a smart speaker, connected TV, or fridge with a built-in screen. Instead, tech companies expect these devices to generate revenue over time through ads or subscriptions. In some cases they sell these products at aggressively low prices in hopes of recouping the investment later. Meanwhile, the software that runs on these inexpensive screens provide far less control than a computer or even a phone. These are increasingly dumb terminals with software controlled through the cloud, which means you have little recourse when that software turns against you. While you can swap out the search engine on your computer with one that doesn’t fill the screen with ads, no such alternative exists when your smart display starts cycling through banner ads or using voice responses to upsell shopping items. The hardware isn’t exactly simple to replace, either. You might be comfortable tossing out a single smart display or speaker, but what if you’ve filled your home with them and built an entire smart home system around them? And what happens when your TVs, fridges, and car dashboards become digital billboards well? With all this in mind, those flashy Samsung and Microsoft concept videos from the early 2010s take on a different flavor. These companies sold us on a digital utopia powered by pervasive screens and connected software without ever explaining how they’d pay for it. Now that we’re surrounded ourselves with the technology to make it possible, the bill is finally coming due.
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E-Commerce
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