The era of trying to be 'someone' is over. Why being a 'jack-of-all-trades' will be the ultimate strength in the AI era

Another illustrator's job has disappeared.

“Oh, there's another one!”

I’ve been seeing more posters around town that seem to use images generated by ChatGPT.

At the supermarket near my house, the flyers for part-time job openings clearly use AI-generated illustrations, and a restaurant I frequent often posts comical AI-generated images featuring the owner's face on their Instagram Stories.

While I’ve become completely accustomed to such sights, I also think this:

“Maybe another job for an illustrator or designer has been lost.”

However, to be honest, I am not in a position to judge others.

I am an editor, a writer, and also a photographer. I sometimes handle everything from planning to shooting and writing an article all by myself. In other words, as an 'editor who can do it all,' I have had a side of 'taking away' work from writers and photographers even before AI.

But even I, lately, have been thinking this while writing articles:

“An AI-generated image would be better for this part.”

I can take photos myself, and I have plenty in my library. But there are times when I think AI-generated images might actually be better.

The same goes for writing.

Because of my job, I can basically write text without much trouble. But for things like captions that just need to be explained mechanically, there are times when I think plain content generated by AI is better because it avoids my own biases as much as possible.

You could think of this as taking away my own work from myself (using AI).

But what I’m worried about isn’t myself. It’s the young people.

The most prominent examples of this appear in menial tasks.

For example, extracting shooting data (settings like aperture and shutter speed) for photos I want to use as captions in an article. I’ve started leaving that kind of work to AI.

I’ll say this for the record: my standards for judgment are quite high. And because of that, I can give specific instructions to AI, so the quality of the AI output is also high.

(↑ I find it incredibly infuriating when peers say things like 'I have high standards, so I can't be satisfied with AI', so let me crush that argument first. By the way, I believe that writing such human-like things is also important for future content creation.)

I digressed, but this essentially means that there is no longer a need to hire part-time workers. To put it bluntly, the gateway for a single newcomer has likely been blocked.

This isn't just about me.

The path of 'hiring a newcomer to handle chores, and once they prove reliable, gradually assigning them more work' is almost disappearing.

I used to think, 'That's because it's programming'

In 2024, I interviewed Daito Manabe of Rhizomatiks for the first time in a while. Before that was right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was years before ChatGPT took the world by storm.

In that interview from two years ago, Mr. Manabe said this:

At the time, I was surprised by this, and at the same time, I felt envious.

'That's something you can only do because it's programming,' I thought.

Code is a mass of logic, so it's compatible with AI. But when it comes to writing text, taking photos, or editing, I thought that was still years away.

I laugh at that now.

But that was the reality of 2024. The world has changed significantly in these past two years.

The posters on the street, and what I wrote in the previous section, are proof of that.

An era where you can buy 10 years of professional accumulation for 3,000 yen/month

In the past year, my way of working has changed dramatically.

One factor is that I have become able to create my own custom tools.

Even though I was an amateur who couldn't program at all. In January 2026 alone, I created about six working apps (I still can't program, but if I use AI, I can).

In short, I don't need to hire a programmer just to build an app for my own personal use.

Content creation is the same. For things like a job advertisement for a local supermarket, there is no need to hire a professional.

To put it dramatically, this means that the value of the skills we have spent 10 years building has been commoditized by a 3,000 yen monthly subscription.

That is not scary or anything at all.

But, to get straight to the conclusion, I am not worried about anything.

Why am I not afraid?

Because I can no longer beat AI in terms of technical skills.

Anthropic, one of the three major AI manufacturers, reportedly built 'Claude Cowork'—which recently caused the stock prices of many software companies to plummet—using only AI-generated code. The world's best group of engineers has determined that 'generative AI is superior to us.'

The same applies to the technical aspects of content creation.

Take writing, for example. I cannot compete with AI in terms of vocabulary or the range of rhetorical devices. That is obvious. The amount of data it has accumulated is completely different, so no one in all of humanity could possibly compete with it.

But I can do something else.

That isdeciding 'what to write next'.

I come up with new article ideas one after another. I can imagine who the article is for and how the reader will take the next step after reading it.

I have had the pleasure of sharing drinks with manga artist Katsuhiro Otomo several times, and the words he once said, 'A manga doesn't become good unless there are panels where you leave things out,' still remain with me.

A person with that kind of overwhelming artistic talent was talking aboutthe importance of 'not drawing'.

What to include and what to leave out. That requires thinking of someone and using your imagination.

This is something AI cannot do.AI can do 'what it is asked.' But it cannot decide 'what should be asked' (though the story is different when it comes to intermediate processes).

I was a 'person who could not become anyone'

Let me tell you my own story here.

My life has been a cycle of hyper-focusing and then branching out.

While obsessed with music, I enrolled in Musashino Art University at a friend's suggestion. Although I intended to major in graphic design, I ended up creating video works and music in my seminars, and wrote a novel for my graduation project.

I aimed to debut as a novelist with the help of a publisher's editor, but it didn't last. I continued working in the music and media industries, where I had been employed since my student days.

After that, I worked as a web director, content director, and SNS marketing planner before becoming independent as the editor-in-chief of a music media outlet run by a record company. After that media outlet closed, I began working with several large companies and was forced by necessity to incorporate.

Now, my work as a YouTuber, podcaster, and note operator has become my main focus, rather than my work as an editor or writer.

From the outside, it looks like an inconsistent career.

Music → Graphic Design → Video → Novel → Media → Marketing → Editor-in-Chief → YouTuber.

For a long time, this was a complex of mine. I was ashamed of being someone who couldn't become anyone.

They call it being a 'jack-of-all-trades.' It doesn't feel like much of a compliment. While this combination is a rare value in the industry, being told I was 'cost-effective' still stings like a thorn.

But now, I think differently.

• It is precisely because I have knowledge of music that I can create music-related YouTube content.

• It is precisely because I studied video that I can edit videos.

• It is precisely because I have the experience of writing a novel that I can write long-form articles that differ from those of many other writers.

• Because I studied design at art school and can take photographs, I can handle art direction.

• It is precisely because I did marketing that I can manage social media.

• Because I have experience in web direction and game production management, I can bundle multiple AIs together to handle development and projects.

Having multiple interests was not a weakness.

And by having 'my own media' like YouTube and note, those things finally began to make sense.

There was someone who put this 'realization' into words.

The concept of a 'Vessel'

American entrepreneur Dan Koe proposes the concept of a 'Vessel'.

He himself says that for a long time, he was just 'learning' and his life didn't change. It was what you might call 'tutorial hell.' He was interested in many things and kept learning, but it never took shape.

The answer he found was the 'Vessel'.

In his case, those 'vessels' were his newsletter and social media. He poured all his interests (philosophy, psychology, business, spirituality) into them.

In other words, it's not about 'mastering a specific skill,' but 'having a place where you can pour everything you are into.'

When I read this, my own career finally made sense to me.

For me, YouTube and note were exactly those 'vessels.' They were places where I could pour everything I had cultivated through my inconsistent career.

And now, we have the advantage of this era, where we have the best technical power available: AI. It has become easy to give shape to various ideas, knowledge, and experiences using top-level technology in every field.

The era of trying to 'become someone' is over

For a long time, I tried to 'become someone.'

I wanted a label like 'Kenta Terunuma is known for X.' But because I am hyperactive and interested in every field, and actually hold numerous titles like editor, writer, and photographer, I could never achieve that. This was a great source of suffering for me.

But now, I think that way of thinking itself was outdated.

The way of life that aims to 'become someone'—that is, to be given a 'label'—is a product of an era where 'correct answers' existed.a product of an era where 'correct answers' existed.

'If you become a doctor, you're set,' 'Programmers will never go hungry,' 'If you build a track record as a writer, work will come.' A worldview based on the premise that such 'correct answers' exist.

But now that AI has commoditized 'correct answers,' the value of labels has decreased.

The label of 'writer' can be provided by ChatGPT for 3,000 yen a month. The label of 'programmer' is being half-taken over by Claude Code, Codex, or Cursor.

Instead, what is increasing in value is the individual's context itself—the idea that 'it's interesting because this person says so' or 'the scenery changes when viewed through this person's filter.'

This is my own interpretation of a 'Vessel'.

The old doors have closed, but new ones are opening.

Having read this far, some of you might be thinking, 'So, does this mean I should abandon my expertise?'

That is not the case.

Expertise actually becomes the material you pour into your 'vessel'.

In the past, owning media was something only large corporations or professionals could do. Now, anyone can have a YouTube channel, write on note, or start a podcast. The fact that I am doing all of these things is proof of that.

The options beyond 'being hired' or 'receiving orders' have increased overwhelmingly.

We are now in an era where it is possible to 'have your own vessel.' And by pouring your interests and experiences (in other words, the expertise you have cultivated so far) into that vessel, you can be of service to someone.

In the past, 'value' was born from being recognized by someone. Today, 'value' is born from expressing yourself.

This is also a scary thing. Because no one will show you the way.

But at the same time, it also means you can start without anyone's permission.

Whether you are in your 20s, 40s, or 60s.

Publishing on note as a 'laboratory'

Finally, please let me make a small promotion.

The articles I write on note are not 'sharing perfected know-how'.

It is quite the opposite; it is 'publishing experimental data'.

• How I am using AI for writing (including my failures)

• How I integrate multiple interests into one 'vessel'

• How I turn daily experiments into a routine

I share not only my success stories but also the process of struggling and stumbling in real-time.

Why do I do that?

Because I don't want to be a 'teacher who provides the right answers' myself.

I believe that what is needed in the AI era is not 'someone who knows the right answer,' but 'someone who can form hypotheses, test them, and keep refining them.'

That is why the basic concept of my note is not a 'classroom,' but a 'laboratory.'

I want my readers to watch my experiments and think, 'What would I do in this situation?' And I want them to start their own experiments.

(By the way, for those who want to know more about Dan Koe's articles, I explain them in this article.)

Stop looking for the 'right answer'

It is incredibly easy to lament the AI era.

'Jobs will disappear,' 'skills will become meaningless,' 'human value will be lost.' Such voices will only grow louder from here on out. Despair is actually quite comfortable, after all.

And the forces trying to gain attention by stoking anxiety will also increase.

But I see it differently.

Moving away from chasing 'right answers' toward enjoying 'experiments'.

I think this can actually be seen as a form of liberation.

While the disappearance of reassuring 'right answers'—like 'if you get this certification,' 'if you acquire this skill,' or 'if you join this company'—can create anxiety, it also means that failure becomes the default, and that in itself creates value.

In a world without right answers, everything becomes a 'hypothesis.'

If it's a hypothesis, it's okay to be wrong. You just have to correct it.

Not 'work,' but 'experimentation.'

I want to enjoy this era together with people like that, so please feel free to follow me. I will be sharing the records of my experiments in real-time!

(Kenta Terunuma)