From Automation to Geopolitics: What AI Is Changing Right Now

The Bigger Picture of AI's Impact

AI isn't just changing technology—it's reshaping our entire global system. From labor markets to energy demands to geopolitical dynamics, we're witnessing a fundamental transformation happening in real-time.

The Evolving Job Landscape

AI is already automating significant portions of knowledge work: administration, research, customer support, content creation, and some coding. Systems like Manus are handling repetitive tasks at scale.

But jobs aren't disappearing—they're transforming. We'll see growth in roles like:

• AI Supervisors: Humans ensuring AI output remains accurate and ethical

• AI Workflow Designers: Specialists building processes around automated agents

• Prompt Engineers and AI Trainers: Experts fine-tuning AI for specific business needs

Knowledge workers will need to adapt by integrating AI into their workflows, mastering automation tools, and making data-driven decisions. As AI handles routine tasks, human skills—creativity, emotional intelligence, and strategic thinking—become more valuable, not less.

The organizational landscape is changing too. Solo founders and small teams can now accomplish what once required entire companies. Corporate structures are flattening, with fewer middle managers and greater emphasis on AI-savvy talent.

Professions requiring deep expertise, judgment, and ethics—medicine, law, engineering—will remain human-centered, but become more efficient through AI augmentation.

The Energy Challenge

This transformation comes with enormous energy demands.

Training large models like GPT-4 or Gemini consumes megawatts of electricity—not just once, but continuously as these systems serve millions of users daily.

Data centers already use 1-2% of global electricity, a figure that could triple as AI scales. Server cooling represents another major energy cost.

Tech companies are racing to secure clean energy sources—solar, wind, hydro, and notably, nuclear power. Nuclear energy offers a realistic path to meeting AI's growth, providing low-carbon, efficient power that operates continuously. While today's reactors use fission, future fusion technology could deliver virtually unlimited clean energy with minimal waste.

The Critical Minerals Supply Chain

AI infrastructure—chips, batteries, servers—depends on specific materials controlled by particular nations:

• Rare earth elements: China dominates, with significant reserves in Vietnam and Brazil

• Lithium: Chile holds the largest reserves; Australia leads production

• Cobalt: Democratic Republic of Congo supplies ~70% globally

• Graphite: Primarily from China, with Brazil and Mozambique expanding rapidly

• Nickel: Indonesia leads, followed by the Philippines, Russia, and Canada

• Gallium and germanium: China produces over 80%

• Platinum and palladium: South Africa and Russia are the primary suppliers

Untapped resources in Greenland and Ukraine represent potential game-changers. Greenland possesses one of the world's largest rare earth deposits, plus uranium, nickel, cobalt, and graphite—though environmental concerns and complex politics complicate development. Ukraine harbors substantial lithium, titanium, graphite, and nickel reserves, currently inaccessible due to the ongoing conflict.

The Geopolitical Realignment

The global political landscape is shifting in response. Countries are forming new alliances centered not just on military or trade interests, but on securing the raw materials and energy that fuel AI development.

The competition extends beyond superior models to control of the physical resources that sustain AI operations. Resource nationalism is intensifying, with countries like Indonesia and Chile implementing regulations to retain more mineral value domestically. China maintains dominance in refining, while the U.S. and Europe pursue alternative supply chains through partnerships with Australia, Canada, and African nations.

The Bottom Line

AI's impact transcends job displacement concerns. It's reshaping geopolitics, trade policies, infrastructure investments, and energy strategies, compelling nations to reconsider their priorities and vulnerabilities.

The scale of this transition makes AI literacy essential. This isn't merely a technological trend but a systems-level shift affecting work, energy, politics, and beyond.

AI won't replace everyone—but those who understand its function and broader implications will be positioned to shape our collective future.