Surviving the Next 6 Months (and the Long Game)

27/10/2025

Surviving the Next 6 Months (and the Long Game)

“Don’t wait for the old doors to reopen—walk forward and build new ones.” - Qwen

The first four parts of this series painted the picture:

  • Part 1: The broken rung — entry-level jobs vanishing.

  • Part 2: The layoff map — who’s next in 3–6 months.

  • Part 3: Governments on the edge — the tax base at risk.

  • Part 4: Efficiency now, crisis later — the talent pipeline problem.

This fifth part is about you. How do you survive right now? And what does the long game look like for all of us?

Step 1: Survive the Next 6 Months

If your role is at risk, here’s the short-term playbook:

  1. Audit your tasks — Are they repetitive, rule-based, or first-draft work? If yes, you’re exposed.

  2. Pivot your role — Move from doing tasks towards directing AI. Example: from writing code to validating AI-generated code.

  3. Learn “context engineering” — The ability to frame problems for AI so it produces the right output in one pass. This is the new literacy and skill.

  4. Invest in durable human skills — Complex problem-solving, empathy, judgment, relationship-building. These are much harder for AI to replicate.

  5. Build visibility — Don’t hide. Show that you’re learning, adapting, and adding value at the human–AI interface.

This is how you navigate the immediate storm.

Step 2: The Long Game — Which Future Do We End Up In?

The layoffs and automation wave raise a deeper question: what happens when AI continues to climb the corporate ladder? Today, it’s junior staff; tomorrow, it could well be C-Level executives. 

Let’s expand on the possible futures:

Future A: The Productivity Dividend Is Shared

  • What it looks like: AI drives enormous efficiency gains. Companies adopt AI taxes, governments redistribute via universal basic income (UBI) or reskilling subsidies. Workers are freed from low-value tasks, yet they still retain purchasing power.

  • Winners: Workers, because they gain time and flexibility. Companies, because they still have customers. Governments, because this helps to stabilise society as a whole.

  • Losers: None, if redistribution is well-designed. But requires bold policy and corporate will.

Future B: Concentration and Collapse

  • What it looks like: Companies pocket AI-driven profits, but mass layoffs hollow out the middle class. Governments delay reforms, tax bases shrink, and welfare costs rise. Demand for goods and services falls. Corporations face shrinking markets, leading to a self-defeating loop.

  • Winners: Shareholders, but only in the short term.

  • Losers: Everyone in the long run, as the economy contracts and potentially collapses.

Future C: The Transformation of Work

  • What it looks like: Humans shift into roles AI struggles with: care, ethics, politics, creativity, leadership, innovation. AI takes over execution, but humans direct meaning and purpose. “Work” is redefined as agency and oversight, not production or function.

  • Winners: Workers who adapt quickly to meta-skills and industries that prize human touch.

  • Losers: Those who are locked into repetitive work without the opportunity for reskilling.

Future D: The Hybrid Economy

  • What it looks like: Some industries (finance, customer service, content) become almost entirely AI-driven. Others (healthcare, education, crafts, entertainment) become more human premium. Consumers pay extra for human authenticity; “handmade,” “human-written,” “human care” become luxury markers.

  • Winners: Skilled artisans, educators, creatives, and anyone able to brand their humanity as value.

  • Losers: Workers in sectors where AI becomes the default and “human work” is no longer valued.

The Underlying Truth

If AI eliminates work without redistributing its gains, the system will eventually break itself.

  • No jobs = no wages.

  • No wages = no consumption.

  • No consumption = no growth.

That’s why this revolution cannot be only about corporate efficiency. It must be about designing a new social contract; one that balances AI productivity with human dignity.

What You Can Do

The future of work will be fought at the policy level, but your career future starts with what you can do today.

👉 Download the AI Career Audit Prompt to:

  • Identify which of your current tasks are most at risk in the next 3–6 months.

  • Get a risk score tied to AI cost, speed, and accuracy metrics.

  • Build a survival + adaptation strategy to stay ahead of the curve.

Download it here → My Free AI Career Audit