>I will say, though, that I for one don't want to be caught on the side of the discussion where I don't learn enough about what is possible with AI/ML, and then get left behind.

I understand that feeling. On the other hand, aren't there a lot of trains you can miss? Do you try to guess which trains are the critical ones (and can you, really?) or do you try to keep up with all of them?

AI/machine learning, quantum, block chain...the list goes on. It seems like the best you can do is not be blindingly ignorant of any of the technologies and their potential...I think few people can really "keep up" unless they have the luck (or misfortune?) to have a job like "Quantum Crypto AI Researcher".