Every wave of technology comes with a promise.
Electricity would end poverty. Radio would unify the world. The internet would make us all smarter. Blockchain would decentralize power. AI, we are told, will create plenty of jobs. Eventually.
Eventually is doing a lot of work in that sentence.
It’s the word you reach for when you don’t have proof. It buys time. It builds hope. It sounds inevitable, but it offers no receipts. No timelines. No models. Just a distant sunrise.
But we don’t live in "eventually." We live in right now.
Right now, job listings for entry-level roles are down. Right now, companies are using AI to replace functions, not augment people. Right now, we’re seeing more decks about efficiency than hiring.
And yet, the story persists: AI will create more jobs than it destroys. People share it like a parable, but it's not a plan. It’s faith-based economics.
There’s a difference between being patient and being passive. Patience says: I'm willing to wait while something real gets built. Passivity says: I’ll just keep believing, even if nothing shows up.
It’s easy to confuse the two.
If you believe AI will create jobs, great. Now show your work. Point to the functions it's adding, not just replacing. Point to the new businesses it makes viable, not just the old ones it makes leaner. Show me the career path for someone graduating this year.
Because every story we tell has consequences. If we keep repeating the "eventually" line, we encourage companies to cut faster, automate more, and justify the human cost as a temporary dip. We turn a speculative benefit into a moral permission slip.
Eventually isn't enough. Hope is not a strategy. Stories are not substitutes for outcomes.
AI has more than enough optimism. It needs accountability. It needs builders who can turn predictions into proof.
Otherwise, all we’re doing is scaling belief.
And belief, no matter how well-intentioned, doesn't pay the rent.
