What will you do when AI comes for your job?

This is not where I expected to be. Two years ago my career as a project manager in the translation industry disappeared, along with much of the translations industry, thanks Chat. I’d been in London a good long time, having moved here for work from the US. I’d been busy building a life, running my own translation company, and suddenly my clients were gone and my mortgage wasn’t.

I did a bit of the panic thing, what am I going to do now? If I start a new career what’s safe from AI? I figured Chat doesn’t have hands and I didn’t want to spend my next career in front of a computer anyway so I set a goal of making something beautiful and started looking.

I started with wood carving and then worked my way through copper and silversmithing, jewellery design and stone carving. I learned a lot of useful things and had some wonderful teachers. I knew I wanted to work on a relatively small scale and that I wanted to work with natural materials. Then I discovered wood turning and knew I’d found the one. I spent a year learning it at Blackhorse Workshop, a wonderful community based maker space in north London. Now I teach classes there.

I also applied for the Worshipful Company of Turners annual bursary award and was selected for a one-year placement at Cockpit Arts which is where I’m currently located.