A senior Federal Reserve official just dropped some perspective that hits different. The whole AI-versus-jobs anxiety everyone's feeling? Turns out it's basically a rerun—just with white collars instead of blue ones this time.

Think back to what happened with manufacturing workers decades ago. Factory jobs disappeared, entire communities got hollowed out, and suddenly the skills that used to guarantee a middle-class life weren't worth much anymore. That restructuring was brutal, but the economy eventually adapted. Now we're watching something eerily similar unfold, except it's hitting knowledge workers, office professionals, and even creative roles.

The Fed's take here isn't exactly comforting, but it's real: AI isn't destroying work itself—it's fundamentally reshaping which abilities actually matter in the marketplace. The programmer who spent years mastering certain coding patterns? The analyst who built a career on data crunching? Those specific skill sets might not carry the same premium they used to.

What makes this wave different is the speed and scope. Blue-collar displacement happened over decades. This shift is compressing into years, maybe even months for some sectors. And unlike previous technological disruptions that mainly affected manual labor, AI is targeting cognitive work—the exact type of jobs we told an entire generation to retrain for.

The underlying message: adaptability isn't optional anymore. Whatever technical expertise you've built, whatever niche you've carved out—staying relevant means constantly reassessing whether those skills still have market traction. It's uncomfortable, but denying the parallel between today's AI disruption and yesterday's automation wave won't make the transition any smoother.