This is NOT another AI uprising story

Last year I made a web app for a Reddit hackathon in less than 2 weeks. It was very bare obviously, it didn’t even have background music but it functionedIt was a trivia game, it had a couple of different rounds, I even added power ups and a leaderboard system for cloutI didn’t write a single line of code, this was before I even found out there was a term for this “vibe coding” I don’t have a cert or degree in programming but I was able to make a poorly optimized but fully functional trivia game on Reddit and the depth of my expertise hard caps at saying “Hello World” in python If i remember correctly, the script was done in a day and i spent all my time on was debugging and testing “Riviio” I named it I have a lot of friends that have been skilled in design, programming and editing for years and today they use AI in their workflow. Now, there’s a shit ton of steps to take from having an idea in your head and fleshing it out on a screen.Programming, coding of any kind requires a certain set of skills and experience that is absolutely necessary.But AI can help you skip a lot of all that in real time, bridging the massive technical skill gaps. What does this mean for the future?Let’s talk about it 1. By 2030, AI is projected to add $1.2 trillion to Africa’s GDP. 2. A lot of people are scared AI is going to take their jobs but the World Economic Forum projects 170 million new jobs will be created globally by 2030, while 92 million are displaced a net gain of 78 million. Most of those new jobs require one thing: the ability to work alongside AI.3. 70% of sub-Saharan Africa is under the age of 30. 4. Africa has the youngest, most adaptable workforce on the planet, and the world’s biggest companies are starting to notice5. 9 in 10 African businesses say they can’t find enough people with AI skill6. People with AI skills are earning 56% more than colleagues doing the same job without those skills. That number was 25% just a year ago AI is here to stay and as with all tools and technology that have made an impact, its use, capabilities and efficiency will only continue to improve until its access has been scaled to convenience. The future isn’t AI, it is hybrid, the future will favor those that are AI-literate and even right now, countries are pushing towards more and more AI use, and I don’t mean for trivial things. My internship ends in a month and at my Primary place of work, I’ve watched my colleagues on different levels use AI.Project management, contract writing, idea deliberation, design, you name it.As an executive intern, I’ve had to draft a contract for an international hire using Claude, this intended role is on the executive level, mind you. And even with the high use of AI in practically every department, my company is still hiring, holding interviews and assessing possible candidates. A lot of roles especially in the entry and middle level are at risk, projects that would take months to draft and plan in the past are being made in weeks, the output scale of AI will forever be something that humans cannot compete with, but that also means there’s need for more supervision. AI is not fully autonomous, sentient or sapient, it’ll always need management (pending any new breakthrough in its Neural network technology). There is ample opportunity for Africa to leapfrog into a new era of advancement in technology and economic development but that strategic early window might not be open forever. Things are no longer about who is skilled in whatever academic or vocational career path but who can efficiently use AI tools to give birth to the ideas in their head.

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