Digging a well using manual tools is a skill. Using a machine to dig is also a skill. They are distinct skills. So if people change the way work is done, skills themselves shift.
Using AI appropriately and efficiently and safely is a skill. Similar to using a mechanized excavator. It can do the work 10x faster but it can also do a lot of damage quickly as well.
Those who don't realize this and not adapt to the new skill set required by the industry will lose their jobs. It will cause a loss/atrophy of prior skills and development of new skills but that is inevitable.
Those who have the prior set of skills do have an advantage over those who don't have them. But the new set of required skills can be developed without having the earlier ones too. The most proficient in the new set of skills may or may not be the ones that were most proficient in the old skills.
Using AI appropriately and efficiently and safely is a skill. Similar to using a mechanized excavator. It can do the work 10x faster but it can also do a lot of damage quickly as well.
Those who don't realize this and not adapt to the new skill set required by the industry will lose their jobs. It will cause a loss/atrophy of prior skills and development of new skills but that is inevitable.
Those who have the prior set of skills do have an advantage over those who don't have them. But the new set of required skills can be developed without having the earlier ones too. The most proficient in the new set of skills may or may not be the ones that were most proficient in the old skills.