Young Men, Don’t Let AI Steal Your Work Ethic

In the beginning, God formed man out of the dust and put him in the garden to “work it and keep it” (Gen. 2:7, 15). Work is inseparable from the identity of man; man is a worker.

Yet work and the nature of work are, in our day, facing a crisis as the AI revolution unfolds. McKinsey research estimates that in the next 10 to 20 years, 47 percent of U.S. jobs are at risk and that 63 percent of knowledge tasks will soon be automatable. Goldman Sachs sees 300 million full-time jobs at risk globally. The World Economic Forum is a little more balanced; it sees a net displacement of 14 million.

Even though the looming disruption will be a challenge for both men and women, I want to address young men specifically. On the brink of this new world, facing a vocational landscape unlike that of their fathers and grandfathers, how should they prepare? How might we disciple young men to embrace their identity as workers at a time when the future of work feels so up in the air? Here are four ways.

1. Manifest appropriate disgust.

The 2008 film Wall-E depicts a dystopian future in which mankind’s labor is no longer needed. The robots do all the work, even down to the walking. The people subsequently become disgusting; by age, they’re just like older versions of fat 10-month-old babies. Immobile, overfed, immature, and permanently entertained, they hover around in a meaningless and soulless existence.

Many young men yearn for a frictionless life. A life without sweat, without strain, and without suffering. Some might argue for a UBI (universal basic income) that funds their limitless capacity to engage video games, porn, and gambling hobbies. They resent God’s design for work in this life, yearning instead for an eternal rest apart from the worship of God. Those who lean toward sloth will see the rise of the machines as deliverance.

Christian men should learn to resent this vision, even find it disgusting. The life of the sluggard is repulsive to the one who embraces God’s design for work. Labor is love. The possibility of a life of pure leisure should give us “the ick.”

2. Absorb the curse.

As part of the curse of sin assigned to humanity, Adam is told in Genesis 3:17–19,

Cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.
By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread.

Life is neither fair nor easy. Work is a blessing, but our work is cursed. An AI-changed work landscape won’t change this curse. It has always been the case that the responsibility of provision weighs heavily on men. And men have absorbed the burden of the curse in every generation.

Consider for a moment the work your great-great-grandfathers did. Why should you expect to work less hard than they did? What entitlement to ease exists in your heart? You have what it takes to make ends meet because you’re made in God’s image and have his help. Line up your expectations with the grain of reality and embrace the fact that you must work at your cursed work.

AI is changing the economic landscape. You’ll have to reimagine, reinvent, and redeploy yourself in and between jobs. You’ll have to pivot, you’ll have to learn, and you’ll have to face the anxieties of uncertainty. When you accept this reality, rather than resist or deny it, you’ll be accepting the curse’s effects instead of abdicating your responsibility to carry the weight of reality.

3. Cultivate IRL trust.

Did AI write this article? Some of it? Was AI consulted? How can you know? I can deny AI use until I’m blue in the face, but you can’t see my face, and so you don’t know it’s blue. I could film a video explaining how I wrote the article all by myself, but you can’t trust that either. I’d like you to trust me, but why would you?

In real life (IRL) is quickly becoming the only verifiable experience. Scam emails are annoying, but AI video, audio, and text will soon make it such that you can’t even trust what you’re seeing on a Zoom call. The skills needed to connect in real physical environments are quickly becoming hot commodities.

The skills needed to connect in real physical environments are quickly becoming hot commodities.

McKinsey’s research says as much: High social and emotional intelligence is vital to ensure you’re not pushed out of the workforce by a large language model. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control: to embody these virtues in the context of an embodied relationship is not only obedient but a key asset for employability in an era of low digital trust. Young men who cultivate trust in real communities and networks will set themselves up for vocational success, whatever comes.

4. Lean into market shifts.

Two centuries ago, about 80 percent of Americans worked as some kind of farmer. No more. It seems like only 200 hours ago that Americans were being told to “learn to code.” No more. Even the coders don’t code much anymore.

Where will the jobs go? The digital revolution gender-neutralized the workforce like never before in human history. My guess is that the AI revolution will serve to retraditionalize the economics-and-gender environment. Physicality will matter in a big way again. Smart will matter less than it recently has; strong will matter more.

Tradesmen like plumbers, electricians, mechanics, contractors, and welders won’t be replaced by robotics for a long time, if ever. Physically demanding, customer-facing jobs are safe for a long time. Even if robots develop technical capabilities for trade jobs in the next 30 years, people won’t want to let into their house a robot that could be hacked by China or by a programmer working from his mom’s basement.

Roles that require human touch and IRL connection will also endure: therapists of all kinds (occupational, massage, speech, trauma, marriage and family, and so on), medical professionals, and social and public service jobs (like police, pastors, probation officers, and personal trainers).

Smart will matter less than it recently has; strong will matter more.

Young men should also remember that “employment” is a relatively new category in world history. Most men in history worked for themselves, or their fathers, or as part of the family business.

Finding employment may prove increasingly difficult as agentic AI can cheaply replace “do as you’re told” white-collar employees. Ownership and entrepreneurship, however, will be easier than ever before. With AI’s help, people who previously lacked the skills to run a company will have new opportunities to start businesses. As part of the “silver tsunami,” 6 million boomer-owned small and midsize companies (collectively worth $5 trillion) will be transferred to the next generation by 2035. Gen Z, rightly prepared to use AI tools, will be ready to inherit or buy those businesses and lead them toward profitability in the changing landscape.

The market for work has shifted before; it’ll shift again. People who want to honor the Lord and serve their neighbor with their labor will have to be creative.

Work with All Your Might

Historically, and more recently by highly influential voices on masculinity like Scott Galloway, men have been told to live into the thee P’s: provide, protect, and procreate. “Protect” connects to Adam’s assignment to “keep” the garden (Gen. 2:15). “Procreate” corresponds to the shared task Adam and Eve were given in Genesis 1: Be fruitful and multiply.

“Provide”? In Scripture’s opening pages, we learn that provision for self and others will be difficult, but not impossible, under the curse. Finding work isn’t easy, yet it’s essential to who we’re created to be. And on this side of the cross, we work not only from our own will but from the power of Christ, who absorbed the ultimate effects of the curse. Though thorns and thistles still abound, the saving work of Jesus transforms our work into worship. We still work to provide; we also work as a means of praise.

And so “whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might” (Eccl. 9:10), and work heartily unto the Lord (Col. 3:23).