It’s 2026, and the AI industry is growing faster than ever.

History has taught us very clearly that the people who say “I’ll figure it out later” end up playing catch-up with shadows of those who embraced change. This is not new. It has happened with every major technological shift in history, most recently with the Internet and the smartphone.

Let’s flip the pages of history, back to the 1990s. The internet came into existence. Most people knew it, yet they decided it was a thing for “computer people”. Too technical, too fringe, too uncertain. Some people disagreed and went on to build Amazon, eBay, and later Google, changing the dynamics of modern industry. Everyone else was now chasing skills that had already become baseline requirements for every office job on the planet. Even you, the reader, are reading this article on the internet.

Then it happened once again with smartphones. Companies and businesses in the late 2000s and early 2010s - taxi companies, media companies, retail chains - that refused to accept smartphones didn’t just fall behind this time. They ceased to exist entirely. Take Nokia as an example. They owned 40% of the global mobile phone market. Nokia executives labeled the iPhone's release as “highly niche” in April 2008. And by 2011, Nokia’s share of the mobile phone market had plummeted, and it was eventually forced to sell its consumer phone business to Microsoft for $7.2 billion. A generation of dominance, undone by a single decision. 

Forget about companies for a second. Think about people. Think about the journalist in 2005 who decided that blogging had no future. Think about the graphic designer in 2012 who refused to use digital tools because they preferred print. It always seemed okay at first, but suddenly people found themselves left behind. 

This is exactly where AI sits right now. It might not be an issue right now, but it will be an emergency sooner than expected for the person who refused to move. AI can cover your repetitive tasks. It can optimize code faster than any human. It can design 100's of product concepts in two minutes. And it can analyze thousands of lines of text, all while costing less than human labor.

The change is already here. Data shows that workers with AI skills already earn a 56% wage premium over people in identical roles without them. You don’t need to be a backend AI engineer or a highly skilled programmer to see the benefits; everyday professionals are using AI to formulate complex plans, automate spreadsheet data processing, and customize automation scripts in minutes, giving them an enormous lead over the people who stick to doing these tasks by hand.

Outside the domain of work and industry, AI has firmly set its foothold in the daily lives of students, especially in high school and college/university. Thirty years ago, a municipal library would be your way to find extension content. Ten years ago, Wikipedia and blogs held the torch of knowledge like lightbearers. Today, all it takes is a well-thought-out prompt and a reputable, free LLM. The tool reduces the friction of gathering data and saves hours of aimless skimming. So, for students like us, the time saved can be reallocated to data analysis. In the past, even a bus to the library and back would take more than a few hours for some people, not to mention the actual research and multiple visits.

Personally, I use AI to surface research topics, research complex subjects, develop waterfall pathways to learn new skills, find excellent learning resources, and spark my inspiration when I’m in a brain freeze. Even writing this article required the help of Anthropic’s Claude and Google Gemini to track down economic studies and surface crucial data. Each instance of information was manually cross-checked against primary sources. Nonetheless, it has saved me hours of webpage hopping or days of hard-wired page-flipping.

Now here’s the difference between AI and the other technological shifts in history. The Internet required a specialized infrastructure; the smartphone required hardware; AI needs a browser and a few months of consistency and deliberate practice. Because the barrier to entry is so low, your own complacency becomes your biggest obstacle. Since you already have the tools in your hands, laziness becomes a liability. The people who learn AI now, before it becomes a prerequisite, will likely be the ones defining the next decade of work and industry.

So I urge all of you not to turn a blind eye to the benefits of AI. Stop looking at AI as a spectator sport. Open a browser, test its utility on your heaviest daily task, and judge the results for yourself. Look past the unfounded tech hype, and make your choice. Weigh the different factors, envision the possible outcomes, and decide for yourself. Does the benefit outweigh the cost? Is the negative aspect of AI resolvable? Or is it unavoidable?

Because it’s not about whether AI would change your future career; that’s decided. It’s about choosing to understand this tech rather than dismiss it. That awareness is the only way to secure your footing before the tides change course again.