Being Young in the Age of Intelligent Machines
How are young people experiencing this moment with AI? We decided to ask them.
Welcome to this update from New World Same Humans, a newsletter on trends, technology, and society by David Mattin.
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I talk a whole lot about the AI moment we’re living through now. But recently, I’ve been doing something different. I’ve been listening.
To be alive in an industrialised nation in 2026 is to live amid a tsunami of narrative on machine intelligence and its implications. And yes, I’ve added to that tsunami in my own small way.
We’re told that emergent superintelligence will soon utterly transform our world. The leaders of the frontier AI labs warn that their creations will devour knowledge work as we know it, leading to a violent restructuring of the job market. Dario Amodei, the CEO of Anthropic, says powerful AI could eradicate half of all entry-level white collar jobs across the next three years.
It’s one thing to find yourself swimming in these narratives when you are — as I am — in the middle of your career. But how must it feel if you’re just starting out? How must it feel to be in your twenties, and trying to get your first foothold on the job market, and all the while hearing that there might not be much of a job market five years from now?
A couple of months ago, my co-founder at Full Moon, Mark Curtis, had a revolutionary thought. We should go out, he said, and ask young people about all this. We spoke often enough about AI. Now, we should listen.
So he led a project that saw us do just that. We brought together a group of 25 people aged between 18 and 30, and from all over the world, and hosted in-depth discussions about how they’re experiencing this moment with AI.
What we discovered was revelatory. The stories we heard from these young people were far more nuanced than the media narratives that they’re living inside. They’re excited, but also fearful. They see opportunity, but also deep challenges. They worry about loss of culture inside organisations, and about the loneliness of working with an ‘AI team’.
One quote in particular continues to haunt me. It was spoken by Fernanda, aged 30, as she reflected on the way AI seemed to be stripping the human meaning, and the creativity, away from her job: ‘I’ll use my passion elsewhere if it’s not wanted at work’.
It’s a line that should reverberate inside the head of anyone who manages a team, or does creative or knowledge work alongside others.
This month in Full Moon, Mark has turned our findings into a wonderful essay. It makes for a unique window on to the way young people are experiencing a historic transition moment. If you’re managing a team, building a culture, running a business or much else besides, it’s essential reading.
Just head over to the site to read the full essay for free. And don’t forget to sign up to ensure you receive future essays and podcasts from us.
A quick reminder for those who need it: Full Moon is where Mark and I offer deep thinking at the intersection of trends, strategy, and foresight.
Our work is now all free to read, so dive in. And if you’re a leader inside an organisation grappling with the challenges presented by AI — everything from hiring and internal culture, to consumer-facing innovation — then drop us a line. We have some thoughts.
I’ll be back next week,
David.
This was #27 in the series Postcards from the New World, from NWSH. The title artwork is ‘Advertising agency, New York 1997’ by the Swedish photographer Lars Tunbjörk.