⚡ AI Is Coming for Jobs. It's Also Creating a Lot of Them.

Tuesday Newsday | WorkLifeFuture | September 1, 2026

Here's a career question I don't think enough families are asking:

Who is going to wire the AI revolution?

We spend an enormous amount of time talking about the jobs artificial intelligence might eliminate or reshape. Software developers. Analysts. Customer service representatives. Entry-level office workers.

But AI has a physical side that's much harder to automate.

Every ChatGPT query, AI-generated video and corporate AI agent ultimately runs on computers sitting in a building somewhere. Those buildings consume staggering amounts of electricity.

And somebody has to build them.

Somebody has to wire them.

Somebody has to connect them to the grid, install the substations, build the solar farms and help construct the nuclear plants that may power America's energy future.

That is creating a fascinating reversal in the labor market.

AI may be putting pressure on some of the jobs we've spent decades preparing our kids for — while increasing demand for some of the jobs we've been telling them to overlook. And it's forcing a bigger question: is the career advice we've been giving our kids for a generation still right?

Before we get too excited about this construction boom, there's another side of the story.

A lot of Americans don't want a data center built near them — and the pushback is growing fast. A recent national survey from the University of Pennsylvania's Annenberg Public Policy Center found that 61% of Americans oppose new data centers in their own communities, up 12 points in just four months. The opposition is remarkably bipartisan — and highest among young adults, with 70% of those under 30 opposed.

Some of those concerns are reasonable. These facilities can consume enormous amounts of electricity and water. Communities are asking about higher utility bills, noise, land use and what happens when a facility requiring as much power as a small city arrives on the local grid.

I think that scrutiny is healthy. Communities should be asking who pays for the new power infrastructure and whether the economic benefits justify the costs.

But we need to separate two questions.

Should every proposed data center be built wherever a developer wants to put it? No.

Is the enormous buildout of computing and energy infrastructure likely to stop? I don't think so.

There is simply too much money, technology and strategic importance behind it. Some projects will get blocked. Others will move. Developers will have to do a better job addressing the costs they impose on the communities where they build.

But the underlying demand for computing isn't going away.

We won't stop the rain.

The better question is how we manage it.

And from a career standpoint, here's what families should understand: wherever these facilities ultimately get built, they will require an extraordinary amount of electrical infrastructure.

The popular image of AI is almost entirely digital. A laptop. A chatbot. Maybe a rack of Nvidia chips.

The reality looks more like heavy industry.

Goldman Sachs Research expects U.S. data-center power demand to more than double in just two years — from 31 gigawatts in 2025 to 66 gigawatts in 2027. Data centers could consume 8.5% of America's peak summer electricity demand by then.

And it's not just data centers. Solar, wind, battery storage, EV charging, grid modernization and new transmission capacity are all competing for skilled workers.

So is nuclear. The Department of Energy estimates its workforce alone may need to grow from 100,000 today to 375,000 by 2050.

America is electrifying a lot of things at once.

Goldman Sachs estimates that the power and grid value chain will require roughly 500,000 additional workers by 2030. At the same time, a large share of today's experienced workforce — roughly 40% — is approaching retirement.

Training these workers takes time. About 45,000 people entered the energy apprenticeship pipeline in 2024. The industry needs tens of thousands more a year to close the gap.

As Goldman Sachs put it, the technical workforce that builds, wires, cools and maintains this infrastructure is in acute demand — and training can't happen at the pace capital is being committed.

Think about those verbs. Builds. Wires. Cools. Maintains.

Those aren't tasks performed by a chatbot.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics expects employment for electricians to grow 9% between 2025 and 2035 — more than double the projected rate for all occupations.

But the bigger number is this: 72,700 electrician openings every year. Some are new jobs. Many will come from older workers retiring or leaving the field. And add linemen, heavy equipment operators, and other skilled workers to those numbers.

Median electrician pay is now $63,190. The top 10% earn more than $108,000, and specialized electrical work can pay considerably more.

Then there's another difference parents should notice.

You generally don't start this career by spending four years paying tuition. You start by learning — and often getting paid while you learn. Apprentices earn less initially, then increase their wages as their skills grow.

A good friend of mine, Celito, took a similar path and just retired from a long, successful career as a lineman for a major power company with solid job security.

That's a very different financial proposition from borrowing tens of thousands of dollars for a degree and hoping a good entry-level job is waiting at the other end.

Some years ago, I renovated a house and hired an electrician named Paul.

He was talented, trustworthy and independent — exactly the kind of contractor you hope to find. He usually preferred to work for us on weekends, which I thought was a little unusual.

Then I found out why.

Being an electrician was Paul's side gig.

His regular job was as a computer programmer at a large corporation.

Paul had a degree in computer science and his electrical contractor's license.

I remember thinking: What a great combination.

He had a well-paying professional career, but he also had a valuable physical skill that people would gladly pay him for. He could pick up extra work when he wanted it. That additional income gave him more choices and more financial security.

And if he'd ever decided he'd had enough of corporate life, he had another career sitting right there.

I've thought about Paul as I've watched the job market change.

We tend to present young people with a choice: college or the trades?

Maybe that's the wrong question.

You know I'm not anti-college. I am increasingly anti-automatic college — the assumption that every capable 18-year-old should head straight to a four-year university without a very good idea of what they're buying.

For a long time, many families treated the skilled trades as the option for the kid who wasn't "college material." I think that's badly outdated.

What if more young people did some version of what Paul did?

Imagine someone who learns the electrical trade, becomes licensed, and also gets an education in business, engineering, construction management or computer science.

That person understands the work because they've actually done it. Add business, engineering or technology skills, and now they may understand finance, contracts, project management, hiring and how to build a company.

Maybe electrical work stays a lucrative side business, as it was for Paul.

Maybe it becomes the primary career.

Or maybe that person eventually stops doing most of the electrical work personally and employs 20 electricians instead.

Look at the markets they could be entering: data centers, grid modernization, battery storage, solar, industrial automation, nuclear construction.

That's not just a job opportunity. For the right young person, it could be an entrepreneurship opportunity.

Maybe the best preparation for the AI economy isn't learning how to compete with AI for an office job. Maybe it's having more than one way to make yourself valuable.

If you have a kid who enjoys building things, solving physical problems, working with technology or simply doesn't love the idea of spending a career behind a desk, ask them:

"When you think of work you’d enjoy, do you see yourself at a desk or putting things together?"

Then spend even a few minutes exploring what becoming an electrician actually looks like where you live. Look at apprenticeships. Community colleges. Electrical contractors. Utilities. Data-center companies.

Could they apprentice first and earn a degree later? Attend community college while working? Eventually study business or construction management with the goal of owning a company?

Don't pitch it. Just explore it together.

Because one of the most important things we can do for our kids right now is broaden their definition of what a successful career looks like.

For decades, we taught them that the future belonged to the people sitting behind the computers.

AI may be changing that equation.

The future also belongs to the people who keep the computers running.

Writing this reminded me of one of my favorite romantic ballads of all time. It’s an American song that artists like Billy Joel and Bob Dylan have praised as one of the best ever.

A clue: The hero is an electrician who has more work than he can get to.

Can you guess? (See the answer in a link below.)

If this was useful, forward it to one parent who's thinking about what comes next for their kid. Here's the link to subscribe: worklifefuture.com/subscribe

And if you're willing, hit reply and tell me the best career advice you ever got — or the advice you wish someone had given you.

⚡ To the people who keep the lights on,

Barry

Guidance for parents supporting emerging adults in the age of AI & automation

Reach out any time: [email protected]

Barry Kruse is Head of Customer Success at Symbolic.ai, a news technology company. WorkLifeFuture is an independent project. The views expressed here are his own.

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