The Children of Knowledge Workers Change the World: How AI’s Erosion of Knowledge Work Threatens Social Mobility

Higher and higher, they said.

I had a quiet but enjoyable Christmas—mostly playing games, walking the dog, and watching films. I even got around to watching The Matrix for the first time, but (cue the groans of my computer science friends) I couldn’t really get into it. I was distracted by a nagging feeling that we’re at the beginning of the end for our most reliable springboard for upward social mobility: knowledge work.

For decades, fields like education, law, finance, and engineering have been the most reliable ladders to move a person from a working-class background into the middle class—and crucially, create an environment from which their children can change the world. For the past 50 years, it’s been possible to get a degree, work the hours, move up the ladder, and gain the financial and cultural capital to give your kids a head start in life. But at the dawn of AI, that ticket risks getting canceled and there’s nothing obvious to replace it with.

Knowledge Work: The Classic Ladder to “Making It”

Knowledge work has helped millions climb from harsh environments to comfortable ones. You go to college, study something practical, and land a job as an accountant, teacher, lawyer, or engineer. Next you’re providing your kids with the stability and resources that help them dream bigger than you ever did.

It seems to me that nearly every great technology entrepreneur of our generation had parents doing some form of knowledge work:

• Mark Zuckerberg: Mother was a psychiatrist, father was a dentist; 

• Larry Page: Father was a computer science professor, mother taught computer programming;

• Sergey Brin: Mother was a researcher at NASA, father was a mathematics professor; 

• Evan Spiegel: Both parents were lawyers;

• Bill Gates: Father was a lawyer, mother was a teacher who later served on corporate boards;

• Jeff Bezos: Stepfather was an engineer;

• Sam Altman: Mother was a dermatologist, father was a real estate broker;

• Elon Musk: Father was an electromechanical engineer;

• Paul Graham: Father was a mathematician working on the design of nuclear reactors.

Is this a coincidence? I think not. Out and about repping State School Ventures, for every person I meet from an ordinary background who’s become wealthy through entrepreneurship, I meet 50 that made their money through knowledge work. While some (me included) have lobbied for our most talented people to found companies instead of joining a corporate graduate scheme, the corporate route still leads to a more reliable median outcome for most people from ordinary backgrounds. Safe from the downside risk inherent in entrepreneurship, it’s the children of knowledge workers that generally end up changing the world.

Enter AI

I’m very excited about AI. Faster cycles, cheaper overhead, a better world. But if knowledge work is the bedrock of generational mobility, the dystopian side looms large: if machine learning starts doing everything a software engineer or financial analyst would do, where do aspiring kids from ordinary backgrounds cut their teeth?

Why It Matters for Social Mobility

1. Fewer “Gateway” Careers
   Historically, knowledge work offered the clearest path from middle-of-nowhere to middle-of-the-boardroom. If AI erodes those roles, we lose a major stepping stone.

2. Wealth Stays Up Top
   It’s a great time to be asset-rich. I predict a huge increase in the value of the stock market over the next 5–10 years, and AI-assisted wealth management means you’d have to try really hard to lose your money. If you’re living paycheck to paycheck, you won’t be invited to that party—and the gap between the haves and have-nots will get even wider.

3. A Roadblock to Intergenerational Progress
   If families don’t have stable, well-paying jobs to propel their children further, the upward climb stalls. And that’s bad for everyone, because of the inevitable political upheaval it creates.

So, What Do We Do About It?

I’m not anti-AI. Far from it, I’m a card-carrying AI fan. But I am pro-opportunity. So how do we keep AI from killing the dream?

1. Invest in Education for Tomorrow’s Jobs
   We need schools, bootcamps, whatever it takes, to prep people for a post-AI world. I just don’t know what those exact roles will be yet, but we need to move fast when they emerge.

2. Boost Entrepreneurship
   AI presents a huge opportunity to launch successful SMEs. We should help as many people as possible to do this. It’s the best shot some folks will get at striking out on their own.

3. Team Up for Impact
   This is where governments, companies, and places like State School Ventures can join forces to ensure AI doesn’t widen the wealth gap. Partnerships can fund scholarships, create pilot programs, and maybe even spawn the next Google.

Wrapping Up

The moment we stop caring about who has access to technology—and who’s left behind—we’ll see social mobility buckle. Social mobility is the cornerstone of capitalist societies, its a less exciting way of saying “the American Dream”. The knowledge work ladder can’t vanish and not be replaced; it’s too important a route to progress and hope for families that lack wealth or connections but have hustle and talent.