How Younger (and Middle Aged ) People Can Thrive in an AI World

AI is changing the world we live in and the way we work. In the ways my generation (born in 1984) grew up with Google, this and new generations will grow up with AI.

But young people are the most vulnerable to the dynamics of this new AI era. In this article, I want to talk about how they can orient themselves for the best possible future.

To understand why this positioning matters, we have to set the stage for how young people make meaning in their lives. There are five stages of meaning making (according to Constructive Developmental Theory), and the 2nd and 3rd stages are how young people in their teens and young adult years make meaning.

Thriving in an AI era is going to require a shift from content mastery to contextual positioning because AI is going to take away many of the motivational tasks that young people do.

2nd Stage: The Black and White Mind (Teens to 20s)

The 2nd stage of meaning-making is for someone who is self-sovereign. They're focused on personal needs, goals, and agendas. They're wondering how a thing or person helps them. Young people move into this stage fully around middle school and somewhat until they move into stage three in their late teens and early twenties.

But, AI is a better doer than a Stage 2 individual. It can follow instructions and execute tasks with zero ego.

Individuals in this imperial mindset must shift from being competitors with AI to being power users. Here are two ways to do this.

• The SoloPreneur Model: Stage 2 is highly motivated by self-interest. They can use AI as a force multiplier to build micro-businesses or freelance empires that previously required a staff.
• Prompt Engineering as Leverage: They thrive by viewing AI as a tool to get what they want faster. Their success depends on their ability to manipulate the machine to achieve a specific outcome, essentially becoming a manager of one.

Stage 3: The Socialized Mind (20s to 40s)

Once someone enters their early twenties, they've likely moved fully into the stage 3, socialized mind, where they find belonging in their group. Most people stay in this stage until their forties or fifties (that's the midlife crisis).

Those who make meaning through group belonging are driven by relational harmony, industry standards, and being a good professional (according to peers and mentors).

Those in this stage are most at risk of AI. People at this stage find safety in the right way to do things. AI has now mastered the right way (the average of all human knowledge). So now they're competing with something that can easily beat them at that game.

The way forward for these folks is to lean into what strengths humans have that AI fails at: Genuine Interpersonal Connection.

Here are two possible roles.

• The Trusted Advisor Role: While AI can provide the information, Stage 3 individuals excel at building the trust required to deliver that information. People still want to buy from, work with, and be led by humans they feel a connection with.
• Empathy and Cultural Translation: AI struggles with the subtle vibes, office politics, and emotional undercurrents of a team. Stage 3 individuals thrive by becoming the glue that holds human systems together while the AI handles the data.

Trust, empathy, and translation are powerful points of value for those in the socialized mind in an AI world. If you can do this and also become a power user of AI (stage 2), you'll excel in an AI world.

A Safety Net for Level 3: External Scaffolding

• The Solution: They don't need to become mavericks overnight. They can thrive by becoming translators. They take the AI's output and use their Socialized Mind to ensure it aligns with the values and harmony of the group.
• The Shift: Instead of "I am the expert who knows the answer," they become "I am the person who ensures this answer works for us (our business, group, etc)."

The Reality Check

The transition will be painful. In the past, young people could make a very good living being a Stage 3 expert who followed the rules and produced high-quality documents. Now, that is the baseline. Although there will still be places in the real world where AI is absent or weak, this will still be an opportunity.

Otherwise, thriving today requires younger folks to move from doing the work to holding the space for the work. For a Stage 3 person, this means finding the courage to have an opinion that isn't just what the textbook says, because the AI has already read the textbook. And that means the ultimate pathway for young folks is to become self-authored. It's figuring out your personal convictions and doctrine about things, even when they come into conflict with those in your group. This transition takes decades, so make sure to move towards this long-term goal while you traverse the short-term (stage 2) and medium-term (stage 3) goals.

The Political Void

One related sidebar here. After I wrote those, it made me think about how many people are getting involved in political issues because they're looking for an outlet to make meaning as other outlets, like meaningful work, fade away or are taken away.

The normal ladder of success for people to climb is fragmented and disappearing. People are seeking alternatives. Those are being offered to people by toxic individuals and groups.

Those in stage 2 end up as online trolls and mercenaries using a political movement to fill their void. Those in stage 3 become true believers, so that they maximize their belonging and take any attack on the group as a personal attack on themselves (unable to see the group separate from their personal identity).

This era of transition will require innovation for those in both the self-sovereign (2) and socialized minds (3) to find places that will allow them to be in their current stage without falling victim to the toxicity. And, this will become a duty of those in the latter stages, 4 (self-authored) and 5 (self-transforming), to create those places for them. Otherwise, younger folks will end up in toxic spaces, since the healthy options are dwindling.