The Robots Are Coming!!!

Not to be alarmist or anything, but THE ROBOTS ARE COMING!!!! Well, to be fair, technically they’re already here. They’re just not everywhere. But they will be, which I quickly learned when I started my master’s research.

Quick confession: when I started my tech master’s journey, I had no idea what I wanted to get out of the programme, except I needed to up my tech game to stay relevant while expanding my NZ network. (Sidebar: For those uninitiated in moving countries as a grownup, you are faced with the challenge of building your network from scratch. You really don’t realise your old networks’ myriad privileges until you flail about trying to make the barest of connections in your new home.)

And then the self-discovery sessions happened. Yup. Self-discovery. Like two days in. WTF. Cynical Jacqueline cringed at the thought, but Practical Jacqueline argued that since this whole master’s journey is self-funded, Jacqueline better shut up and listen. So listen I did.

And guys, it was awesome.

Because without a guiding hand, there’s no way I would’ve taken time to pause and really look at what makes me tick, and then deliberately use that info to pave a path to My Career 2.0.

What I (re)discovered was my love of words, of writing, of using art and vocabulary to change minds and communicate ideas and emotions; of syntax, semantics and etymology, of observing cultures evolve language and language evolve cultures. Through self-discovery, I was able to articulate my passion for equity and fairness, for sharing my ideas with others, and for hanging out with curious, creative people.

So what does that have to do with THE ROBOTS WHO ARE DEFINITELY COMING?

Well, I started looking at how I spent my time at work, how much of it I spent doing the aforementioned stuff I love, and sadly it was minimal. I also asked heaps of other creatives the same question, and “time” kept coming up — we don’t have enough time to do the stuff we love to do. So I asked myself in my newly- learnt “research problem-y” way, how might I use technology to spend more time at work doing the stuff I love and less time doing the stuff I don’t?

Therein lies the opportunity.

You see, there’s all this awesome tech out there that us creatives could potentially use to buy back some of that time we’re craving. It’s not about using AI to do the creative stuff (because it can’t…yet), but rather it’s about using technology to do the non-creative stuff while also using AI as a creative collaborator to spark new ideas. It’s not about losing jobs to machines. It’s about using machines to have better jobs.

Yup, move over vegan-ice-cream-business-to-free-range-bacon-farm collabs. The cool collabs of the future are all about creative people and machines.

And it’s gonna be sweet. (And probably a wee bit salty.)

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