- Rice says AI will reshape computer science careers while creating new roles in prompting, cybersecurity, and integration.
- Micro-credentials and employer-based training will gain importance alongside traditional degrees.
- Skilled trades remain in high demand, offering fast paths to stable, high-earning careers.
Artificial intelligence, educational attainment, demographic shifts, automation – these are just a few pressing topics that occupy futurist Christopher Rice’s mind on a daily basis.
Institutions, economic stakeholders, and political leaders turn to Rice for guidance on how to best prepare their operations for the future. Now, he’s sharing his insights with the Northern Kentucky community.
Rice was the keynote speaker at LINK nky’s December Community Conversation on Dec. 4, where he shared his thoughts on how technological innovation and societal evolution will influence Northern Kentucky’s workforce and educational landscape.
The first topic Rice opined upon was the integration of artificial intelligence into the economy, specifically regarding how he believes it will affect the local workforce. One of the areas Rice believes will be most impacted is those entering the workforce with computer science degrees.
“AI is actually really good at coding, so some of you have probably seen the coding computer science graduate apocalypse,” Rice said. “Turns out, if you graduated in 2025 with an English degree, you have a lower rate of unemployment than if you graduated with a computer science degree.”
However, Rice argues that although computer science degrees are currently struggling, new careers will arise from the ashes. A report published by the Michigan Tech College of Computing states that computer-based careers are changing, with new roles emerging that will create fresh opportunities for aspiring computer scientists.
These include roles like prompting engineers, AI-enhanced cybersecurity analysts and AI integration specialists, among others. In the future, more career fields—such as teaching or nursing–will enable people to use AI to develop educational and healthcare plans.
On the education front, Rice believes the value of a traditional college degree will evolve. Looking ahead, Rice said micro-credentials will become increasingly important. Micro-credentials are brief, competency-based certifications that confirm an individual’s competence in a specific subject. Large corporations such as Walmart are already investing in micro-credentialing.
“The lines between what we think of as traditional university learning and workforce development, those are going to start to work and mash up a little bit,” Rice said. “You won’t just go to college to get a job with a degree. You might go and get a degree, or you might work for this employer, get a set of credentials, or for another employer, get a set of credentials, and stack on that.”
One career path Rice sees gaining importance in the future is “blue-collar jobs,” or skilled trades such as plumbing, electrical work, and carpentry. Northern Kentucky leaders have long been advocating for awareness of the local trade job shortage. In 2023, Brian Miller, executive vice president of the Building Industry Association of Northern Kentucky, stated that the Greater Cincinnati area faced a gap of 65,000 trade jobs. Rice said tradespeople are essential for constructing and maintaining infrastructure.
“Your quickest path now to a six-figure income as a young person is to go to trade school,” he said.
Ultimately, Rice urged people to take a rational and patient view of technological integration, coupled with a long-term time horizon.
“If you’re told that AI is going to take like half of everybody’s jobs and we’re all going to be out on the work out on the street– out of work–let me tell you, the best way that you can prove to yourself that is not the case is to go back and look at what was the actual economic productivity increase of the greatest invention of the second half of the 20th century–the internet.”