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All I know is that predictions are usually wrong. And college isn’t just a trade school, hopefully it’s an education.

I recently met a kid going to school to become a pilot. I asked if he was concerned that planes will be autonomous very soon, and he and his father were very confident that planes would “always” need human inputs. Uhhh, ok.

Great that you’re thinking about the future and how your role may play out. You’re well ahead of most!

Yes.

I went to uni to study animation (CG, but with traditional fundamentals and a couple of liberal arts modules). I've never used my degree in a professional context, though I do intend to (save the laughs lol). Here's why.

Higher education wasn't always about money. It was about the pursuit of knowledge. At first it was considered a godly endeavour, then a mark of social refinement. Cue the Industrial Revolution, and from there you have your three "R"s. What I'm trying to say is that the world hasn't always looked like this. Society isn't static, and never will be.

The simple fact of the matter is that, eventually, AI will outperform us in all respects. Talking careers and the like is pointless, because those might not exist by the end of the century, if not sooner. However, at least until the onset of AGI/ASI, we will share this space. I've heard ML/neural network experts debunk the misconception that AI and human intelligence work identically, so our input and perspective, especially as meat-bound humans, may still yield material value to society.

But that's besides the point. What if you are "obsolete"? Would you lose interest in engineering just because they outclass you? You'll never be the best at anything, my friend. Life isn't a competiton: the race was created by Man. AI just might lay waste to it, and maybe, just maybe, we'll finally get along, pursuing our little passions while this potential most magnificent mind solves the problems too big for us.

Tl;dr: If you love what you do, don't stop. Find reasons to continue. If not, pursue what gets you up in the morning and enjoy the ride :)

As someone who uses AI in graphics projects, who teaches/tutors design here and there:

I studied graphic design and animation. I am a much better, more creative prompt engineer than many people who didn't study any art.

AI art is basically "garbage in, garbage out." I'm in several AI communities and the people doing really well with it have some kind of visual arts backgrounds, though there are some writers too discovering AI.

It's an adjunct and aide to human creativity, not a replacement for it.

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You’re gonna need all the upgrades you can get, don’t skimp on yourself. Even if AI is a billion times smarter and faster than you, would you really wanna be ignorant and talentless?

I'd focus on gaining skills that will be hard to automate

College: Paramedic / nursing / teaching

Trade school: Plumbing / HVAC installation / electrician

I think the dates you mention are going to turn out to be early. That said, I found college worth it, even when not strictly considering future employment prospects.

• I'm far more well-rounded after college. I had little interest in literature, religion, sociology, etc. when I entered college. While I certainly could have learned about these topics on my own, I probably wouldn't have. Having a more diverse education has also helped me be a better learner.
• Networking and other opportunities are easier when you are a student. I got access to two undergraduate research experiences, a scholarship, and an internship basically by showing up to things I wouldn't have known about if I had been teaching myself topics at home. One, I got literally just by talking to an invited speaker after a talk. Without these experiences, my ability to get hands-on learning in my field would have been diminished significantly.
• College was especially worth it for me socially. My closest friends today are some of my first year dormmates and people I've met through them.

I think if you're a super-motivated, well-networked high school student (e.g. someone who would get a Thiel Fellowship), or someone who knows exactly what they want to do, and how to get there, you can probably skip college. If you have any doubt, would benefit from a more structured learning environment, etc., you should at least try college. If AGI concerns you with regards to employability, try to orient yourself towards something where a significant portion of the work is non-routine.

I think even with AI, artists that were artists before AI are going to naturally thrive within more than a random person that can draw more than stick figures. You can tell who is a bandwagoner by all the artgerm/mucha/rutkowski prompts of young pretty girls/Emma Watson.

That's the current state, but it will probably be a replacement rather soon. At the very least it will replace the artists in an art director - artist relationship.

I like this response. I’m currently in uni for an animation degree as well. Even though most people would probably think it stupid, especially with how tech has been progressing recently. I’d rather push myself towards something I enjoy though, instead of just pursuing a degree that I don’t even enjoy just because it’s what makes the most money or that it’s the least likely to get automated soon.

Real talk! Pursuit of money (at any point, but especially at this one in history) just feels like a race to the bottom. We have to focus on being ourselves and doing right by others - switching lanes to make a couple extra quid for five years just won't cut it. But I'm just a talking avatar, so who knows? All the best on your journey, squire!

Ai will replace little, it will augment most. Non asi will always be non asi, and the human touch can be simulated but not replicated.

Fair.

If you're a person who has their own ideas they'd like to produce then it's good news. For me, it's helping me realize a dream of creating my own worlds and stories. I basically have promoted myself to art director on my personal projects, and it's also amazing for iterating on designs and building whole design themes and riffs from a single image.

If you're stuck in a production pipeline however and probably if you're new, it's bad news. I am glad I found this as a freelance and contract mid career multiskilled designer and not as someone struggling to get their first production artist job, I'll say that.

Get a dual degree if you’re concerned by it, or pickup a certification in a field that interests you.

Talk to somebody in your desired field.

Find the phone number or email address of somebody at a college you’re interested in attending and see if they’d be willing to talk about what they think career prospects look like. This person can give you a much better answer than a rando on a futurism subreddit.

Go to college. Take engineering and French literature and basketweaving and all things zymurlogical. Sate your curiosity and if it turns out that you graduate with no need of making money, sate your curiosity some more.

from your post history it looks like you are in slovenia, and according to a quick google, native residents don't pay tuition for the first degree.

i would go ahead and go to college at least as long as tuition was free.

if you were in the USA (i am) i would suggest community college/maybe try to find a semi relevant part time job and transition into a work study program.

i would just major in computer science.

i don't think the amount of money you earn over the relevant time period will make a huge difference. but if you can put yourself in a position where you can use some of the new tools that might make a big difference for you.

also i would think that would be the most fun and exciting way to live if i was in your shoes (other ppl may have diff ideas about what constitutes "fun" or "exciting" lol)

Only thing you need to remember: this sub is delusional.

Go to college.

You go to college for life skills and to get the current state of your profession. After that, you adapt. You need to do that anyway, AI or not. Also, predictions in this sub could be off by 20 years. What are you going to do then?

Until the consumer becomes a computer too. And yes I see how that can happen, my mind is total dystopia.

Don’t do animation, do computer science. You take a class on graphics rendering if you love art so much. Do be afraid to get to close to the sun, that’s what college is for. If you think you don’t have the aptitude for computer science, I think you are underestimating yourself and how long the journey ahead really is. Please PM me or reply to discuss further, but please don’t waste university years on an animation degree when it’s so hard that you might as well do computer science.

Omfg I’m fueming, don’t go to university for ANIMATION. DO COMPUTER SCIENCE. DO COMPUTER SCIENCE. DO COMPUTER SCIENCE. Do you know what it’s like being poor? It’s very stressful.

I'm one of the early predictors of AGI, and I still don't expect a rapid takeoff - even if we do something in a lab, it doesn't mean broad adoption has been achieved and further the benefits from creating such things have to cycle through the economy. I will note though that modern predictions have been consistently more pessimistic than results (see ML surveys by Bostrom et al, or various predicted benchmarks such as the big MATH dataset miss).

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This all said, earlier responses to you are right - the modern take on education is unhealthy. It used to be acknowledge that an educated populace was a public good in and of itself. Continued learning should be undertaken simply to improve yourself (and the world around you).

Live your life normally. Who knows when this will happen. You may want to choose a career that is harder for a machine to replace. Something with as much randomness in tasks as possible. Lots of varied physical tasks. Something like master carpenter required good math sills and ability to work with your hands.

Planes don't really need pilots now.

It's up to you and only you are best informed to make this decision. If I had to give you an answer, I would say to forget about college and focus on making money now. Having good savings rather than a degree might be much more helpful for the economic transition when AGI will be created.

Web and Python Development: https://getmimo.com (Checkout out the website version).

Mathematics and Computer Science: Brilliant.org (Checkout out the website version).

Fill in knowledge gaps: Youtube, Udemy, google search.

Refine your skills: https://www.codecademy.com/resources/blog/coding-projects-for-beginners/

This is more then enough to get you started.

True that! We’ll see when the FAA (in the US) accepts modern technology