Have you heard about AI? It's the latest and greatest technology and will solve every problem!

I love the stories people tell about AI - especially when told with absolute certainty of eventual capabilities and impact on individuals and society.

Yet, the fact is - the future remains unwritten.

Since the future is hidden - you can tell whatever story you want. Isn't that exciting? Think of all the possible stories we can tell ourselves and others!

So the question becomes - what narrative do you want to tell? Why? What is the likely impact of that narrative?

What are some of the emerging stories about AI? What is the real-world impact of those stories?

The Silicon Valley AI Story

AI model startups in Silicon Valley promote a story about AI being able to replace people completely. This "doom" is "soon".

Let's think about this "doom" narrative. What is its impact? It's a threat.

  • It threatens existing technology companies by declaring they are obsolete and will be permanently eclipsed by new AI model building companies.
  • It threatens many existing businesses by saying their entire business model could be replaced with AI.
  • It threatens people across the socio-economic spectrum by saying they will be put out of work - "soon" - before they can adapt. 1

How have people reacted to this narrative?

Frighteningly, many people have simply accepted this narrative with little evidence and acted accordingly.

  • Existing technology companies - afraid of being "obsolete" - have built their own AI teams, partnered up with startups, and looked for ways to adapt their products.
  • Existing businesses - uncertain about the future - have either reacted conservatively - or tried to be an early adopter to get an advantage.
    • Ford fired a bunch of "grey beard" engineers under the assumption AI could do their work - as a result they had many quality issues and were forced to rehire many of them. 2
  • People have changed career choices and made AI a political issue 3.
  • Investors have rewarded AI model startups with massive valuations on their potential future profitability and growth.

The "doom" and "threat" focused story isn't the only narrative - it's simply the first out and the one currently in widest circulation - making it more challenging for other stories to penetrate.

Jeff Bezos Optimism

Recently Jeff Bezos decided to tell his own story about the future of AI 4. His story is AI will create more jobs: "I think, in fact, AI is going to create a labour shortage." He turned AI into opportunity for individuals! Much less threatening!

Isn't it nice to have multiple stories about an unknown future?

What do I think?

I think - it's hilarious.

People trained as engineers are the ones telling a story to all of society.

Usually this type of narrative construction and storytelling is reserved for people highly trained in literature, history, philosophy, law - you know, The Liberal Arts.

Surprise! Engineers can tell stories - no fancy education required!

I feel these prophetic visions of AI can be described by Hanlon's Razor 5:

Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.

Personally, I'm not afraid to say I don't know.

People tend to want certainty though - so we listen to prophets. Isn't it strange our prophets are engineers? I feel some engineers have left the map of Liberal Arts behind, and are now quite lost.

What story would you tell?

The future is unwritten - the present is open to influence through narrative. What story would you tell? Why?

What do you value?

How sure are you about the future? What evidence do you have to support that certainty? How does that evidence compare with other existing knowledge and research?

Do you care about people's feelings?

What action do you want people to take?

  1. Jake Angelo, "Microsoft AI Chief Gives It 18 Months—for All White-Collar Work to Be Automated by AI," Fortune, May 16, 2026, https://fortune.com/article/why-microsoft-ai-chief-mustafa-suleyman-predicts-ai-automation-18-months/. ↩

  2. BeauHD, "Ford Rehires 350 Engineers After AI Fails To Preserve Expertise or Train Juniors," Slashdot, June 25, 2026, https://slashdot.org/story/26/06/25/1624241/ford-rehires-350-engineers-after-ai-fails-to-preserve-expertise-or-train-juniors. ↩

  3. Bob Kinzel, "'I Don't Think It's Too Late': Bernie Sanders on Why His Attention Has Turned to AI," Vermont Public, June 11, 2026, https://www.vermontpublic.org/local-news/2026-06-11/bernie-sanders-ai-artificial-intelligence. ↩

  4. Shiona McCallum, “AI will create more jobs for humans, not replace them, Amazon founder Bezos says,” BBC News, June 17, 2026, https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ceqdrw2yy3vo. ↩

  5. "Hanlon's Razor," Wikipedia, last modified June 6, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanlon%27s_razor. ↩