USING AI TO MAKE YOUR OWN JOB

A general guide to starting a business in an age of artificial intelligence and employment insecurity.

Smith shrewdly observes that the breakneck pace of technological progress, especially regarding artificial intelligence, is upending traditional forms of employment. (“The old model of a person working for years to climb up the corporate ladder is broken.”) Virtually no one’s job is immune to the “brutal logic” of corporate streamlining, which reduces even the best workers to “interchangeable work units,” per the author. Smith posits that, amidst this intensifying precariousness, the only sure path to financial freedom is to create a business of one’s own. In this concise instructional manual (the text is a bit over 150 pages in length), the author introduces various brainstorming techniques designed to generate new business ideas, running the gamut from reconnecting with old “school chums” to striking up conversations with strangers, counsel that is as sensible as it is unspectacular. A significant portion of the book is devoted to the establishment of the business once a concept has been formed—Smith addresses the naming of the concern, the composition of a business plan, social media marketing, and many other related issues in a clear fashion. The author also discusses his own professional life as a military combat engineer and geologist and the lessons he’s learned over the years regarding the management of loneliness and ill health. Smith’s advice is consistently prudent if not particularly original—he encourages the reader to exercise, eat well, avoid the “temptation and perils of alcohol and drugs,” and find solace in creative work. (“Change from worry to planning. Switching from continually worrying about present problems to doing something creative with your business is mental relaxation and mental work at the same time.”) In the most concretely helpful section of the work, the author explains how one can use various AI programs to assist with the writing of a book. Unfortunately, this book, as a whole, is excessively general in its guidance and too often traffics in platitudes.

An instructional guide hampered by a lack of specificity.