scrooge, photography and ai

 scrooge, photography and ai

I keep thinking about Scrooge.

Before he became the Scrooge we know, he was a young apprentice working for Mr. Fezziwig. He learned a trade. He worked alongside Jacob Marley, who would eventually become his business partner.

He learned by doing.

Fast-forward a couple of centuries.

I remember studying photography when our industry was moving from film to digital. I nearly didn't get into the program because of the chemistry and physics requirements. I thought, Why do I need all this?

Eventually, I realized I didn't need most of it for the photography I actually ended up doing.

Technology changed the job.

Now we're watching AI change work again.

AI can do some of the tasks that once gave junior lawyers, writers, designers and other professionals their first years of experience.

And I keep coming back to something I learned through psychology:

You can't learn from mistakes you never get the chance to make.

You don't need to know how to rebuild a car to drive one.

But if the machine does everything for you, when do you learn what's happening under the hood?

Maybe that's the question we should be asking about AI.

Not simply:

“What jobs can AI replace?”

But:

“What do humans need to learn before we let AI do the work for them?”

Because technology will keep changing.

It always has.

The challenge is making sure people don't become obsolete just because the work changed.