I believe AI, like any transformative technology will bring both benefits and drawbacks. What I find exhausting is the panicked narrative, this incessant “the sky is falling” hysteria that seems to accompany every new advance.

History is littered with examples of early resistance to innovation. When electricity was introduced, people feared electrocution in their own homes. Trains and planes were dismissed as dangerous novelties. And yet, we adapted. Society evolved. The technologies that once sparked public outcry became essential to our way of life.

The labour market has always shifted with technological change. Jobs disappear but new ones emerge. Take the horse-based economy of the 19th century. For most of written human history there was a vast infrastructure dedicated to feeding, breeding and maintianing horses, blacksmiths, stable hands, veterinarians, carriage makers etc. Then the internal combustion engine arrived. Within a generation, horses went from being the backbone of industry to a recreational afterthought. Whole sectors vanished, but in their place came mechanics, engineers, drivers, petrol stations and an entirely new ecosystem.

For most of the 20th century entire industries were built around analogue photography: manufacturers of film rolls, companies producing darkroom chemicals, camera repair shops and photo developers on every high street. Photography was met with scepticism. It was seen by some as a mechanical process lacking artistry or human touch. Critics feared it would undermine traditional painting and portraiture and some artists worried it would render their skills obsolete. Remember when Kodak was a global giant, employing tens of thousands and virtually synonymous with everyday photography? Then digital photography took hold. Almost overnight the demand for film plummeted. Photo labs closed, film factories downsized or disappeared, and companies that didn’t adapt, like Kodak, struggled to survive.

When Alexander Graham Bell introduced the telephone in the late 19th century, it wasn’t universally celebrated either. In fact, many people were deeply suspicious of it. Some feared it would erode face-to-face communication and destroy social etiquette. The New York Times even published critiques suggesting the telephone would invade privacy and reduce people to “transparent heaps of jelly to each other”. Others worried it would encourage laziness or antisocial behaviour and some even believed it might be used to communicate with the dead. Public telephone industries were once a cornerstone of modern infrastructure and their rise and fall is another compelling chapter in the story of technological disruption. The decline of public telephony led to the loss of numerous specialised roles, from early switchboard operators and payphone maintnance workers to coin collectors and copper-line installers. As mobile and internet based communication took over the massive infrastructure behind public telephones quietly disappeared along with the jobs that supported it. Its another clear example of how technological progress reshapes industries, often sweeping away roles once considered indispensable. Mobile phones and internet-based calling have now taken over. Even in workplaces, VoIP systems have largely replaced the old desk phones. And while some people still keep a landline for emergencies the trend is clear: the classic telephone is no longer centre stage.

AI is simply the next chapter in that same story. Disruption is uncomfortable, but it’s not unprecedented.