AI is not a tool. It’s the next globalization.

We keep reaching for the wrong metaphors. “AI is like going from horse to car“, “AI is the new electricity”, “AI is like the printing press.”

But this isn’t a tool shift, I think it’s an operating system shift. Much like globalization was.

Globalization promised to outsource the mundane so we could focus on creativity and upskilling to more complex jobs. It promised to unlock a new era of wealth and freedom.

Sounds much like the AI narrative today.

While there were many positives, the downsides we massive. Middle-class jobs got hollowed out, inequality widened and the wealth growth concentrated on to hundreds of individuals instead of whole societies.

Not exactly the utopia described in the fancy speeches.

Now AI is doing the same—only faster and deeper. Instead of offshoring, we’re algorithmically automating. Instead of global labor markets, we have borderless digital labor. And once again, the pitch is: “Don’t worry, humans will just move up the value chain.”

But what happens when the equivalent of a billion phd's pop up in the market? That are willing to work for 25 cent per hour for anyone that has the capital to pay?

For this time to be different, we must act differently and have an honest conversation about investing in real upskilling, designing more inclusive systems and building ethical frameworks.

There probably needs to be an update to our social contracts as well.

AI isn’t the next car or printing press, it’s globalization 2.0—on steroids.