What Jobs Will be AI Proof?

Standard / by / October 13, 2025 / 65 Comments
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A fellow FIRE blogger, MrNomadNumbers, came to visit us in Valencia recently and showed me some AI capabilities that blew my mind. Before he retired, he was a software developer, like us, so he knows his way around code. Within just 3 hours, he was able to not only write a song from scratch but also generate a video (using zero stock footage because everything was generated by AI), and add karaoke-style lyrics to it to boot. It looked so professional, it looked like it was developed by a production crew of at least 10 people, but in reality, it was just him, working in his Airbnb. And the cost for all this? $25.

I was in awe but also at the same time, terrified. If AI is this good now and can replace an entire production crew and musicians, what jobs are going to be left?

This makes FIRE even more imperative, because the stock market has been on a tear lately, so it pays to be an investor, not an employee.

In fact, nearly 40% of the companies in the S&P 500 are tech stocks with AI driving their profits. Meanwhile, companies are starting to lay people off, replacing them with AI and becoming more efficient.

But as great as it is to be an investor, you still need a job to get to FIRE, and for those of us who are parents, what jobs opportunities if any will there be left for our kids?

My original strategy of promoting the software developer career path is no longer a sure thing, given that AI already knows how to code. In fact, Microsoft has said that 30% of their code is now written by AI. As a result, Microsoft said it was able to save more than $500 million in 2024 and boost their sales by 9%. After 9000 jobs were cut, their stock shot up.

Senior developers will still be very sought after, given that you still need very advanced and experienced coders to maintain and debug AI, but entry level coders are screwed. That goes for most other entry-level white-collar job, which doesn’t bode well for the next generation.

This made me go into an anxiety spiral searching for AI-proof jobs.

Here are the top 3 categories I found:

AI-Powered Entrepreneurship

Just like the industrial revolution, whenever there’s huge innovation, there are also huge opportunities. But you no longer need massive amount of capital to build factories to take advantage of this new technological gold rush. You can do it from the comfort of your own home (as my FIRE blogger friend recently demonstrated).

This enables those who understand AI to multiply their productivity and use it to start businesses that can scale and profit. After spending the initial 3 hours to set up his system, MrNomadNumbers is able to churn out customized songs in less than 5 mins, for less than $5, and sell those songs for $200 a piece, he’s netting a whopping $185 for less than 5 mins of work.

Another friend founded a startup called Nilo, which is using generative AI to build custom-designed game engines. They just received $4M in seed funding, and this is another example of a product that simply couldn’t exist before AI. Check out their demo reel!

For those who are self-driven, Entrepreneurship is the perfect solution for jobs being replaced by AI. This is what I will be training my son to do in the future. And because traditional schooling and degrees aren’t great at teaching people how to become entrepreneurs, Worldschooling is something we want to seriously explore because this type of unconventional learning tends to get better results at teaching kids how to think for themselves and be self-driven instead of being told what to do by schools.

AI Infrastructure Support

Nvidia is investing up to $100 billion dollars on building data centers to the AI demand. Guess who will be needed to maintain these data center?

Electricians and plumbers.

These are jobs that are relatively hard to be replaced by AI, since it doesn’t make sense cost wise to build a robot to do it.

The CEO of Nvidia has said they will need to hire hundreds of thousands of electricians and plumber, so this seems like a solid career path with really good return on investment for your tuition.

Also, AI consumes a ton of power—a single AI interaction consumes 10 times as much power a google search.

Where is all that power going to come from? This will create a lot of power generation jobs to produce enough energy to feed the AI bots.

AI engineers will also be needed to maintain those bots. So, it pays to be in a field that supports AI. In fact, Meta recently offered an AI engineer $200 million over several years, to work for them. If you can get into the AI race, it’s a gold rush.

Skilled Trades

HVAC technicians (for cooling and heating systems), building contractors, plumbers, electricians, elevator mechanics, etc are AI proof since it’s doesn’t make sense cost-wise for AI to replace.

And also, the cost of a trades degree is hundreds of thousands cheaper than a 4 year university degree. These jobs have fantastic POT scores (see our book Quit Like a Millionaire) which shortens your time to FI drastically and prevents you from having to go into debt to pay for an expensive degree.

Use the skilled trades to get to FI as fast as possible, then you can reap the rewards of being an investor.

What do think? Are you worried about your job being replace by AI? If you’re parent, are you worried about the lack of entry opportunities out there when your kid(s) graduate?

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65 thoughts on “What Jobs Will be AI Proof?”

  1. 150 years ago, 47% of Americans worked on farms (nearly half the population). Now, 1.2% of Americans work on farms and yet nobody would go back to those old days, despite the major job disruptions that occurred. When the internet became a thing, it was going to lead to massive job losses at bricks and mortar establishments, banks, the post office, etc. But again, no one would go back to the way things used to be. I suspect the same thing will be true of AI.

    Reply

  2. Hoping my stubborn sister-in-law will choose the machine learning track for her compsci degree… she’s in her third year but she has youngest child syndrome and wants things done “her way” 🥲

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  4. What do you think about the other side of this story – the news articles stating that the economy is in an AI bubble and the promised productivity increases mostly have not materialized?
    I’m not as worried about AI-related job losses for my kids, for these reasons. I also believe that teaching them how to think will be more future-proof than training them for any specific profession.

    Reply

    1. Both can be true.

      The dot com bubble really was a bubble and really did burst, but the internet didn’t go away. The housing market became a bubble and burst, but its not like housing went away.

      I don’t think your kids would have to work directly in the AI industry, but they should be aware of how AI will affect the field they do go into.

      Reply

    2. The Internet was a bubble (which popped in a couple of years) and an engine of growth (which has lasted for a couple of decades). I expect something similar with AI: we are riding the top of the bubble right now, while it is changing society at traumatic speed and will keep doing so long after the bubble has popped.
      Twenty years from now, we will have adapted. There will be less people on the planet, therefore less manpower. The creative jobs that make you a fortune in a couple of hours will have gone into saturation (5 minutes of work will be paid like 5 minutes of work).

      For the rest, all activities will be AI-assisted, including SW engineering, dentistry, plumbing, warfighting, everything. The legal responsibility of the AI component will be codified, so the profits will land into a reasonable space.
      There will be less work available, for a shrinking human population.

      It will be a wild ride, LM. Enjoy every mile!

      Reply

  5. When I speak with area electricians and plumbers, their trades are crying for skilled workers to take care of the normal stuff. People aren’t entering those trades fast enough. Trades a great place to start.

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  6. So basically, any jobs that require working (hard) with your hands and bodily dexterity will be safe? Is that the upshot?

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  7. ” After spending the initial 3 hours to set up his system, MrNomadNumbers is able to churn out customized songs in less than 5 mins, for less than $5, and sell those songs for $200 a piece, he’s netting a whopping $185 for less than 5 mins of work.”

    If he can do that, everybody and their uncles and dogs will be able to do the same. No?

    Reply

  8. What about Childcare and teaching jobs? Especially children below the age of 5? Are you okay with an AI robot teaching and caring for your child? Just curious

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  9. Unless we hit the “Skynet became self aware” moment and we’re all fighting Terminators to stay alive! (Maybe not far fetched considering the billionaire tech bros are buying up the landscape and building compounds with bunkers?)

    Anyway, I read an interesting article over the weekend about how the current AI data center economics are not sustainable and building a massive bubble. Billions are pouring into them in construction, power, and water (by the way, humans need those latter two!) and yet the money coming out is not nearly enough. Also, the lifespan of a data center being built today is 3-10 years before billions more are needed. The lopsidedness of the money was something like $160 billion needed in 2025 to balance, and it will be closer to $20 billion. And it gets worse for 2026…

    So, I think we best all make sure our portfolios can handle if or when that bubble bursts.

    Reply

  10. So…..the shining new age of Techno-feudalism where the serfs live in a land devastated by the loss of potable water and rolling brown-outs?
    WTAF?!
    And the answer is to “get yours first”?

    Reply

  11. But as great as it is to be an investor, you still need a job to get to FIRE, and for those of us who are parents, what jobs opportunities if any will there be left for our kids?

    –

    Once you FIRE (let’s say for Canadians), how about taking a portion of your investment portfolio (let’s say $100k to $250k), invest it in an in-trust investment account for your child. Every year, realize the capital gains on the child’s tax return which should be nil tax for some years to come and have the dividends taxed in the parents name. Also, invest in an RESP for them (more tax free growth). Once said child turns 18, there should be enough money for the kid to not have to be dependent on a job.

    Maybe it’s time to think about how life is beyond a job. A job is not an end goal.

    Reply

    1. As great as this sounds in theory… Unearned money at a young age rarely creates a well balanced Adult.
      Just look at lottery winners, who gain unearned money, often experience life descending into a nightmare, as the true enjoyment of money comes from the skill and challenge of earning it.

      There’s a reason why Generational wealth rarely lasts past the 4th generation.

      Reply

  12. Another friend founded a startup called Nilo, which is using generative AI to build custom-designed game engines. They just received $4M in seed funding, and this is another example of a product that simply couldn’t exist before AI. Check out their demo reel!

    –

    They got $4 million seed money for that?

    What?

    Why?

    Reply

  13. In my former life (pre-FIRE) I was a design engineer in the aerospace & defense electronics sector (electronic hardware…radar, satellite comm, etc). Recently, for the heck of it, I jumped on Grok and tested a bunch of queries related to the type of work I used to do and it was spot-on all the time. I even entered queries that I figured were far too niche/esoteric for a reliable answer, and it nailed it every time.
    I envision the same phenomenon in my former field as we’re seeing in software engineering (i.e. goodbye entry level), only with a little more time runway. It’s quite obvious that it’s only a matter of time before my former field consist of very senior engineers who are directing and/or working with AI, and almost no lower to mid-level engineers.

    Yep…other than skilled trades and medical, the only thing safe from AI, at least for now, is FIRE.

    Reply

  14. I like almost all of your articles. This one though, is absurd. Please be a little more incredulous. How do you figure the video cost only $25? Do you know the vast resources AI is using?

    It is far too early to say what effects AI will have the job market. Microsoft may end up rehiring those positions because AI isn’t everything it is cracked up to be.

    Let’s wait a bit before prognosticating on AI. It could also turn out to be total bupkus. Don’t believe all the hype. Maybe it’s going to devastate the job market. Maybe not.

    Reply

  15. “using zero stock footage because everything was generated by AI” Like they are making the things from scratch. You know it is not, it’s trained based on stolen data from existing artist’s work or different stock footage. Taking zero responsibility on copyright issues.
    I thought AI is going to change human life for the greater good on an infrastructural level and improve science.
    But, all I can see now is AI starts up wasting a ton of resources bragging about how easy it is to make a bunch of idiotic generated AI slops that ruin works in the creative field. Musicians, Artists, Writers.. so on.
    Fantastic progress, isn’t it?

    Reply

  16. I am a chemist, and I don’t see AI replacing non-routine lab work anytime soon. Just too many variables. Maybe for high throughput, routine stuff could use more automation and AI assistance but we see how AI fumbles in these areas and laugh at the “AI hallucination”. Traditional manufacturing and R&D still requires a lot of hands-on experience. The danger is not to be replaced by AI in the US but to be replaced by cheaper educated labor in Asia, Eastern Europe and South America. Also any in-person care could not be replaced by AI, like caring for the young and the old and the sick. And cooks too. The concern is not about AI replacing jobs, it is that average humans in modern societies could not be kept as consumers because profit-driven corporations would only serve the rich (whoever with generational wealth, or higher income groups that would become more and more scarce). So who cares about the majority of the humans who have no good jobs, no decent income, can’t afford anything?! Sooner than later the wealth would be concentrated to the top 1% while the so-called middle class would be crushed. So if you are lucky to be FIRE today, enjoy the present moments. It would be much harder in the future.

    Reply

  17. Ah, this post comes at a time when our high school aged family members are now beginning to rethink their tech-centric career tracks and looking for more sustaining opportunities. I suspect that careers in law or similar fields could also be diminished some by AI. While it also makes me lose my shit just thinking about it, I believe this can open the door for more unique careers and I am mostly hopeful that the younger generation(s) will continue to innovate to make up for any potential loss.

    My husband and I are in the skilled trades, we’re wallpaper installers, actually. Yeah, I know, wallpaper died in the 90’s, but not in the big cities. Thankfully, for us, we returned to Florida from San Francisco and business is booming! It’s a slower hustle, but we’re booked 2-4 months out, year round.

    It’s certainly not a necessary trade like plumbing, HVAC, etc., but it’s a skill AI will never be able to accomplish and we’re grateful for that.

    Reply

  18. It’s great to see that you’re continuing to promote the skilled trades, especially after they’ve been stigmatized for so many years.

    I was actually featured on your blog a few years back, here’s the link for reference:

    https://www.millennial-revolution.com/build/case-study/reader-case-no-degree-no-problem/

    When that post went live in 2021, AI wasn’t even part of the mainstream conversation. Fast forward to the end of 2025, and it’s become both an industry disruptor and a game changer. Since then, I’ve taken significant time off to pursue personal goals and creative projects. I may not be at my FI number yet, but I’m incredibly grateful to have my electrical certification as a solid backup.

    Interestingly, with the explosion of AI, the demand for data centres (and skilled tradespeople to build them) is skyrocketing. As a side note, I’m currently working on a project in Quebec, earning just shy of $6,000 per week before taxes. I truly hope more people consider the trades. They can be extremely lucrative and rewarding if you’re in the right sector.

    Reply

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  50. The skilled trades angle is spot on. But here’s another AI-proof move worth considering: owning property abroad where your money stretches further. After reaching FI, I looked into (real estate in Chile)[https://dg-nomad.com/real-estate-in-chile/] and was surprised how accessible it is for foreigners. The buying process has its quirks, but property prices outside Santiago are still reasonable compared to most North American markets. I put together a guide covering the legal side and practical steps if anyone’s exploring that route.

    Reply

  51. Exploring which jobs will be AI-proof is a hot topic for anyone planning their career. While networking and sending applications, I verify every contact with MailTester.Ninja to ensure my emails reach recruiters and peers without bouncing. It is the ultimate bounce killer for professionals.

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  52. Interesting breakdown—AI-proof roles still seem to cluster around human judgment, care work, and hands-on trades. For anyone exploring legal or public record workflows, resources like court records search can help with case-related information.
    It’s clear that roles involving interpretation, accountability, and real-world interaction are harder to automate. That mix will likely stay relevant even as automation expands.

    Reply

  53. Great article on AI-proof jobs. Roles that require hands-on work, problem-solving in unpredictable environments, and direct client interaction are much harder for AI to replace.
    Agri-Systems is a perfect example — their team builds and installs grain storage systems, handles complex on-site construction, and provides expert equipment solutions that rely heavily on real-world experience and skilled craftsmanship.

    Reply

  54. The part about MrNomadNumbers building something useful in just 3 hours in Valencia really drives home how fast the baseline is moving for software work. For anyone comparing where AI is strongest versus still limited, Kling AI Models Kling AI Models is a relevant reference point.

    Reply

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