1. Video 1 – Wall Street Week: “AI May Not Take Your Jobs After All”Link: https://youtu.be/EGskcTRnLJ0?si=nuCTdVsZLgxvb_g7
What we focused on:

• Knowledge workers are people whose main job is to think, analyze, and create new ideas or information. They try to expand the bounds of knowledge, and can use AI to push routine or physical tasks off their plate.
• We discussed agentic AI – systems that don’t just answer questions but can take actions and complete tasks on behalf of humans, especially low‑value or repetitive work, so humans can focus on creativity and higher‑order thinking.
• The idea of AI washing came up: companies use “AI” as a pretext to cut costs and lay off workers, claiming “AI is replacing you,” even when the technology is not really the cause.
• This connects to a bigger concern: some corporations see humans as expenses, not assets. We talked about how students should be wary of organizations that treat workers as numbers to reduce, instead of people to develop.
• Two very different risk perspectives were highlighted:
• Geoffrey Hinton warns that AI can be like an invading alien force: something powerful, unfamiliar, and potentially beyond human control.
• Another analyst argues that AI isn’t one giant monster problem; it’s many smaller, concrete problems (safety, bias, job displacement, regulation, etc.) that we can handle one by one.

Class takeaway: Don’t accept “AI will replace you” as a neutral fact. Ask: who is using that story, and what are they trying to justify?
2. Video 2 – Demographics, War, and Global EconomicsLink: https://youtu.be/S6mXqOk63Ss?si=yNAwRng14u_rjsbH
What we focused on:

• The video examined demographic shifts (changes in population structure) and how localized wars such as those involving Ukraine and Iran affect populations and the global economy.
• We looked at how the Russian losses in the Ukraine war have devastated the 18–30‑year‑old demographic, hollowing out a whole generation of young adults.
• This puts Russia’s long‑term future at risk, making it “teeter on the brink of collapse” demographically and economically.
• This is presented as an example of what can happen when a country is under totalitarian control: leaders may wage wars that sacrifice their own people, especially young people.
• Students connected this to the United States, including fears about:
• A possible draft
• “Boots on the ground” in places like Iran
• We stressed that studying demographics helps us:
• Understand a nation’s motives and pressures
• See why partner and adversarial countries might make certain military or economic decisions.

Class takeaway: Demographics are a hidden driver behind war, peace, and economics. Understanding them helps you see the deeper motivations of countries, including your own.
3. Video 3 – Douglas Rushkoff: “The End of Employment (And Why It Could Free Us)”Link: https://youtu.be/0Q62CxA4ikw?si=AmZ8WNhQNPjvrmkL
What we focused on:

• Rushkoff traces the history of work from medieval markets to today’s AI‑driven economy.
• He suggests that the end of traditional employment might also open up space for more cooperation, creativity, and human connection, instead of just clock‑in/clock‑out jobs.
• We discussed how some corporations imagine AI as almost a new consumer class—systems that buy, sell, and optimize with each other—potentially leaving many humans with less clear roles in the economy.
• This ties into the idea of technofeudalism:
• A small group of owners controls the key digital platforms and AI systems.
• Most people become like serfs, dependent on those platforms for work, communication, and even basic survival.
• Students shared real worries about:
• Whether there will be stable, meaningful jobs for them.
• How AI might reshape their career paths, bargaining power, and autonomy.
• We emphasized that you, the students, are the future leaders:
• You will enter fields like policy, law, tech, organizing, and education.
• You will have the chance to shape how AI is used and what kind of society it creates.

Class takeaway: The future of work is not predetermined. It depends on the values and decisions of people—especially the next generation of leaders.
4. Key Vocabulary from TodayUse these for your “What I learned” reflections:

• AI (Artificial Intelligence)
• Computer systems that perform tasks requiring human‑like intelligence (language, pattern recognition, decision‑making, content generation).
• Agentic AI
• AI that can take action, make choices within set goals, and carry out multi‑step tasks on its own, instead of just answering single questions.
• Knowledge workers
• People whose main job is to think, analyze, research, or create information (engineers, teachers, lawyers, designers, etc.). They use AI to handle routine or low‑value tasks while they focus on higher‑level work.
• AI washing
• When companies use the buzzword “AI” as an excuse or marketing tool—for example, to justify layoffs or restructuring, even if AI is barely involved.
• Demographics
• Statistical information about populations (age, gender, birth rates, death rates, migration). Demographics help explain a country’s economic strength, military capacity, and political pressures.
• Totalitarian control
• A political system where a government or single leader has near‑total power, tightly controls media and opposition, and may make decisions that seriously harm its own people.
• Technofeudalism
• A possible future where a small elite controls powerful digital platforms and AI, and most people have less power, unstable work, and are heavily dependent on those systems—similar to feudal lords and serfs, but with advanced technology.

5. Final Assignment – “Brain Dump”Assignment:
Create a “brain dump” of what you learned and felt during today’s class.
How to do it:

1. Dictate first, edit lightly later.

• Use your phone’s voice‑to‑text to talk through what you learned, what surprised you, and what you’re worried or hopeful about. You may respond directly to the info below or give a more general philosophical response.
• Then lightly edit for clarity (fix obvious mistakes, add missing words).

1. What to include (no fixed word count, but be substantial):

• What you understood from:
• The AI and employment video
• The demographics/war video
• The Rushkoff “end of employment” video
• How these topics connect:
• AI and the future of work
• War and demographics
• Corporate power and technofeudalism
• How all of this relates to your own future:
• Are you more worried? Motivated? Confused? Curious?
• What kind of world do you want to live in 20–30 years from now?
• What role do you see for yourself in shaping that world?

1. Goal: Capture an honest, thoughtful encapsulation of what’s in your head right now after this class—both information and emotion.

FOR NEXT WEEK:
Submit your response here
Do some family or acquaintance interviews about AI and its impact on their lives.
Use your phone to record the conversation and get recorded permission to use the audio for your project.
Next class please provide a summary for the interview and be ready to begin work on the documentary!