Daniel Priestley: Plumbers Will Earn More Than Lawyers! I Predicted 2008, Now I'm Warning About 2029

**Steven Bartlett** (0:00)
I was looking at the top ten jobs that are most likely to be disrupted by AI, and I really do worry about this.

**Daniel Priestley** (0:05)
So the nature of the economy is changing. For a long time, blue collar work like plumbers, electricians, bricklayers has been devalued. But it could be in the next couple of years, these are the roles that are elevated the most, and that plumbers regularly earn more than lawyers. And for the last 25 years, I've been building companies from scratch, and I've been through the global financial crisis and COVID, but I have never experienced what we're experiencing right now. I've never seen more fear for the disruption that is coming. And my real bear case for AI is that every time you go on AI, your request is going off to a big computer in a warmer size building somewhere, and those big ginormous computers, they last three to four years before they need to be replaced. And this year ahead, we're going to spend 650 billion, and that could cause a massive financial collapse. That's the thing that I'm worried most about. However, I've never seen more excitement for the opportunities that are in front of us.

**Steven Bartlett** (0:56)
So let's talk about, in a world of AI, what are the skills that survive?

**Daniel Priestley** (1:01)
So I really believe that everyone should build a little bit of a personal brand. Not like to become an influencer, but position yourself with a group of people who know who you are, know what you do, and could enroll you in their opportunity. Second one, if there's one skill set that everyone should be learning at the moment, it's how do entrepreneurs think, how do entrepreneurs behave, what are the skills that make an entrepreneur successful. And entrepreneurs just simply follow six steps, and we do it over and over and over again, and we'll go through the six steps.

**Steven Bartlett** (1:27)
So, are there any particular opportunities that you think that anybody listening right now could pursue to make money?

**Daniel Priestley** (1:32)
So, I think one of the best opportunities is...

**Steven Bartlett** (1:34)
That is such good advice that we don't hear enough. Guys, I've got a favour to ask before this episode begins. 69% of you that listen to the show frequently haven't yet hit the follow button, and that follow button is very smart because it means you won't miss the best episodes. The algorithm, if you follow a show, will deliver you the best episodes from that show very prominently in your feed. So when we have our best episodes on this show, the most shared episodes, the most rated episodes, I would love you to know. And the simple way for you to know that is to hit that follow button. But also the fact that I think what 41% of you have chosen to follow the show that listen to it regularly is the reason why we've been able to improve everything. It's the simple, easy, free thing that you can do to help us make the show better. I would be hugely grateful if you could take a minute on the app you're listening to this on right now and hit that follow button. Thank you so, so, so much.
Daniel, I think we're living in the most interesting, opportunistic, terrifying time to be an entrepreneur, a professional, to really be anybody because this is a moment of such fundamental change. And I really want us to have this conversation with you today because I want to understand how you're thinking about AI from an opportunity standpoint as an entrepreneur, but also just for everybody that's working in a normal job and who is at risk of having their career, their livelihood, their identity, their qualifications made redundant because there is now an alien amongst us that can do so much. So this conversation really is about giving people answers. It's about being honest with them about what's coming. And it's about preparing them, setting them up so that they have an advantage in the face of the future we face. So give me the 30,000 feet view.

**Daniel Priestley** (3:20)
Well, my background for the last 25 years has been building companies from scratch. And I've been through the.com and I've been through global financial crisis. And I've been through Brexit and COVID. I have never experienced what we're experiencing right now. I've never seen more excitement for the opportunities that are in front of us. I've never seen more fear for the disruption that is coming.
We are living through transformational times that is very similar to 250 years ago, where the end of the agricultural age ended and the beginning of the industrial age began.