Comment by ilaksh | Hacker News Reader

Comment by ilaksh | Hacker News Reader

There is no such thing as an AI-proof career.

Look at recent output from leading edge humanoid robotics projects like 1X/Neo, Figure 03, Skild AI. Also see open published work like MimicDroid, HDMI, GenMimic, Humanoid-Union Dataset, RoboMirror, Being-H0

Figure 03:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-31-KBBuXM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZUTzuhkDG3w

1X Neo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lS_z60kjVEk

Skild AI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRmjBdKKLsc (Learning by Watching Human Videos)

Mimic

https://youtu.be/_LkBFL5m1WU?si=Qvgb7vkpG_KCAJdN

There is a ton of very useful recent progress with imitation learning and related datasets. There is also some work on learning from large scale video like Youtube.

We are months away from the ChatGPT moment in humanoid robotics where a project launch or demo makes people finally realize that they are general purpose.

The only way we could have AI proof careers is if humanoid robotics were to completely stop progressing. Since it's been advancing very rapidly, that makes no sense.

I dunno. I trained as a software engineer, pivoted to civil laborer. I just can't see a robot doing 90% of the stuff I do anytime soon. Same goes for plumber, electrician, ... even most mobile plant operations. As a supplement around the edges, sure. But replace? Not in the near term. And that's not even considering the safety certification moats around skilled labor roles.

I'm think event photography is another.

It's one thing to use AI to touch up photos, but in the end, you probably still want photos that match your memories and good photography still has an element of taste and creativity.

Yeah I think with all the AI slop around, people are going to value 'real' a lot more.

AI-proof is probably the wrong way to look at it, but there is substantial advantage in being in one of the _last_ to be automated industries. Social safety nets and such are probably set up by the time the robots come for the last jobs.

>Social safety nets and such are probably set up by the time the robots come for the last jobs.

What makes you think "Social safety nets" will be the solution the élites land on?

If we were to wargame out different scenarios, we'd likely find there are a lot of potential solutions to the problem of large masses of people who are not useful to the cause of productivity in your society.

Giving non-élites a social safety net is actually one of the most resource intensive solutions. Not saying our oligarchs would not choose that solution. Just pointing out that it would severely impact their bottom lines. More than almost any other solution in fact.

On the upside they'll all generationally churn out of life, acting as a forcing function on future decisions.

Time isn't linear. No guarantees we march right along handing batons to the next age group. Which generation will be future elites making the choices come from?

Millennials and GenZ (despite a blip towards Trump in 2024, they blipped hard away from him as his policies of 2025 hit them hardest) are trending progressive as they age.

And Millennials and GenZ outnumber a GenX population that is the only cohort to not sour on Trump. GenX influence will rapidly shrink as Boomers churn out.

No linear time. No single clock all living things tick to. Meaning the population composition is not guaranteed to exist such that the old ways are the future. No guarantee 50 year middle managers waiting patiently end up elites in control. They might be too copy paste and conservative.

https://fortune.com/2025/08/07/gen-x-ceos-decreasing-baby-bo...

I don't know about this analysis?

Number one, Trump won the presidency on the strength of his support from younger generations of Americans. It remains to be seen whether or not those younger generations will turn against Trumpism.

Number two, GenX. Not only is GenX is the generation that voted against Trumpism the most statistically speaking, they are also the smallest generation. ie - the least statistically relevant where votes are concerned. (Which is why it didn't really matter that they voted against Trump.)

I agree with your assertion that the Boomers will churn out. I disagree that it will matter that Boomers churn out. Mainly because support for Trump-like policies is, again, strongest among the younger generations. The younger generations are literally how the guy won the presidency and they will represent more of the populace in the future, not less. So until I actually see millennials and GenZ vote against Trump-like policies, I'm not really sure how things get better?

Polls of the last few weeks I have seen say the opposite.

Trumps pull with GenZ vanished through 2025 as his policies did nothing to help them. 2024 was a blip. Now they are at risk of being drafted into war and otherwise the drag on the economy.

GenX is career stable middle management. The most skin in the current economy game. Their support for Trump stayed stable while every other generation's support tanked.

GenZ support in 2024 was short-term 20-something "free from parents" blip. They ended up bag holders through 2025 and corrected course.

If elites do not provide a social safety net why would the masses respect their elite status and resource endowments anyway?

Unless you are suggesting billionaires build private armies in some sort of neo feudalism, there are no elites who are not dependant on the existing social structure.

Private companies literally are building drone armies right now. Are you sure their use will be limited to Ukraine and the Middle East?

Yeah that's why my argument is us proles cannot wait for rock bottom, we have to get these guys now

The Canadian social safety net has big enough holes that rather than incur the costs as a first resort, the Canadian government has taken to passing out "are you aware of your options regarding MAID?" pamphlets to decidedly non-terminal patients.

There's only one way to AI-proof yourself: become enormously rich and join the Davos class.

> There is no such thing as an AI-proof career.

Proof as in much less likely to be significantly disrupted by AI within the next couple/few decades, well I definitely think so.

Pfew, if the biggest threat is from humanoid, then there is nothing to worry about

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