How AI Will Change Your Life (and Already Has)
I read *How AI Will Change Your Life* by Patrick Dixon in one sitting, fresh off an IDLES gig in Bristol. Here's what stuck: – AI is already shaping how we think and choose – AI won’t take your job, but it will change what that job looks like – Cybercrime’s next wave will be smarter and scarier
Signal Boost: “Grounds” by IDLES
That line, “Do you hear that thunder? That’s the sound of strength in numbers.”, hit differently after finishing the book. This post is about awareness, agency, and choosing how we want AI to shape our future. Grounds captures that exact energy: defiant, collective, and forward-facing.
Sometimes it takes a jolt to wake you up to what’s already changed.
This weekend, mine came in two parts:
- Seeing IDLES shake Queen Square to its foundations—loud, urgent, and defiant.
- Picking up How AI Will Change Your Life at Bristol Airport on the way home and devouring it within 24 hours.
This blog, The Gated Signal, is all about tuning into the signals most people ignore—buried under the noise of hype, jargon, and clickbait. Dixon’s book does exactly that.
It doesn’t speculate on what AI might do someday. It shows what it’s doing now. And what that means for you, me, and everyone else walking through a world already shaped by invisible code.
AI in the Margins: How It's Already Running the Show
One of Dixon’s most powerful moves is simply laying out the facts. AI isn’t just coming, it’s already here. It’s influencing the ads you see, the music you hear, the policies you’re offered, and even the routes you take to work.
Not in some dystopian sci-fi sense, but in thousands of tiny decisions made by algorithms we rarely notice.
If you think AI is a future problem or opportunity, you’re already behind.
“Most of the influence of AI will remain invisible and that’s precisely what makes it so powerful.”
- Patrick Dixon
And that raises a big question: If AI is nudging our choices, how much of “us” is still us?
Coders as Custodians
Dixon’s section on software development was one of the most compelling, especially if, like me, you've spent years wrangling code and building platforms.
He challenges the usual narrative: that AI will replace developers. Instead, he suggests something more nuanced and arguably more urgent.
As AI begins generating more code, we’ll need more developers — not fewer. But their job shifts. It’s no longer just writing logic. It’s interpreting machine-generated code, spotting security holes, and ensuring that what’s built is safe, ethical, and robust.
“Coders will become the custodians of quality, the people who keep the machine honest.”
- Patrick Dixon
Are we preparing today’s developers to do that job? Or are we still training them for yesterday’s world?
Rewired, Not Replaced
There’s no shortage of media stories warning that AI will steal our jobs. But Dixon counters that narrative with data, history, and logic.
He draws parallels to past waves of automation from industrial machinery to the internet and shows how they’ve consistently driven wealth creation and new forms of work, not just job losses.
One example stood out. While some reports predict that AI could wipe out 80% of jobs, Dixon highlights how these claims are often exaggerated or poorly grounded in economic reality. In fact, research shows that the complementarity effect of AI, the new jobs unlocked by working alongside it, can be up to 50% greater than the number of jobs lost.
“Coders won’t disappear, they’ll become more essential than ever, interpreting and safeguarding AI-generated code.”
— Patrick Dixon
But he’s not naïve. He’s clear that this shift won’t be painless or automatic. It requires planning, reskilling, and investment in people.
The big takeaway: AI isn’t a threat to work itself, it’s a rewiring of what “work” looks like.
Cybercrime with a Brain
One of the sharpest sections covers cybersecurity.
As AI gets smarter, so do cybercriminals. Dixon predicts a sharp rise in intelligent ransomware attacks that adapt, disguise, and negotiate using AI. These won’t be brute-force hacks. They’ll be psychological. Strategic. Personal.
And they’re coming for everyone. Not just banks and governments, but schools, hospitals, SMEs. Anyone with data worth holding hostage.
He makes the case that every organisation must elevate security to board-level priority. No more “IT’s problem.” This is systemic.
“Cybersecurity will become the backbone of public trust in an AI-powered world.”
- Patrick Dixon
Education, vigilance, and resilience will be our first line of defence. Are we ready?
Final Thoughts
How AI Will Change Your Life isn’t about hype. It’s about responsibility. It doesn’t promise utopia or warn of dystopia, it just invites us to see what’s already changed and what’s likely to come next.
It reminded me that we’re not bystanders in this shift. We’re builders, users, citizens and we all have a say in what gets created, and why.
The question isn’t whether AI will change your life. It already has.
The better question is: how do you want it to?
