For millions of years, humans were the most capable creatures on Earth. Soon, that won't be true.
That's Po-Shen Loh's starting point. He's not some doomer on the internet—he's a Carnegie Mellon math professor, the US Math Olympiad national coach, and someone who's spent decades teaching brilliant students how to think.
His argument is simple and terrifying: The age of skill competition is ending. The age of value creation has arrived.
Let me break down what this means for you, your career, and the future of work.
Last year, Google's AI solved four out of six International Math Olympiad problems.
To understand why this is a big deal: IMO problems are extremely original. National coaches meet every year to make sure nothing similar has ever appeared in any contest, anywhere. These are problems designed to test pure creativity and problem-solving—not pattern recognition.
AI solved four. Po-Shen Loh can only solve two.
"Creativity in AI can probably surpass what we can do, too."
If AI can outperform a math Olympiad coach at pure problem-solving, what does that mean for everyone else?
Here's where Loh gets angry—and he should.
Students are using AI to cheat on writing assignments. He explains why this is catastrophic for human civilization:
Writing isn't about the output. It's about learning.
Using AI to write your essay is like saying, "I'm not going to run a mile for exercise. I'm going to drive my car one mile for exercise."
How much exercise do you get? Zero.
If students lose the ability to write, they lose the ability to think logically. They become dependent—unable to synthesize ideas, reason through problems, or generate original thoughts.
Large language models work because they're good at language. They recognize patterns. If humans lose this skill, they become passive consumers of whatever anyone else feeds them.
Loh's insight: The entire education system needs to flip.
Old model: Students go to school to learn how to do homework and pass exams. New model: Everyone needs to learn how to grade homework.
Why? Because AI can do the homework. The scarce skill isn't solving known problems—it's evaluating solutions, identifying mistakes, and understanding why something works or doesn't work.
This is the same skill Loh uses in his interviews: He asks questions students have never seen before, gives hints, and watches how quickly they synthesize new solutions.
"That's also creativity."
Loh saw something disturbing as the US Math Olympiad coach.
Brilliant, capable students were depressed. They'd spent their entire lives trying to outdo others—proving they were smarter, faster, better. After high school, they had no idea what to do next because their life philosophy was simple: beat everyone else.
"That's when I realized we actually will do much better if we think about the philosophy to start with, right? The philosophy in life should not be how do I outdo everyone else?"
His alternative philosophy: Make people happy.
"It's actually addictive to make a bunch of other people happy. Oh, now I can do it for five people. Oh, now I can do it for 500 people. Oh, wow. Now I can get thousand people to come to this thing."
Here's the kicker: This correlates with traditional success. People who create value for others tend to succeed in the long run.
Loh built a company called XP (Explanations Are People), and the business model is fascinating because it solves three problems at once:
Problem 1: Students need to learn how to think, not just solve problems.
Problem 2: Brilliant math people need emotional intelligence to be extraordinary leaders.
Problem 3: Talented actors and drama students need flexible, meaningful work.
His solution: Teach math through Broadway-quality performers who are also math geniuses.
High school students learn from passionate, smiling experts. Math coaches build EQ and communication skills. Actors get meaningful part-time work supporting their passions.
Everyone wins.
But here's what took 8 years to figure out: You can't just copy this model. You have to understand the underlying principle—authentic value creation for all participants.
Loh's warning is stark:
"Soon, you're going to have to work together to survive. The only way to get other people to want to team up with you is for you to authentically and deeply be a person who is motivated by creating value in others."
If AI can do all the technical work, why would anyone hire you?
Only if they feel like you're going to create some value and they like that vibe.
This isn't soft skills fluff. In a world where AI can code, write, analyze, and execute faster than any human, the only differentiator is who wants to work with you.
Loh spends significant time using AI to become better at simulating the world.
He gives an example: He was in Nashville, saw a talented singer in a bar, got curious about how hard it is to get a Broadway performing spot. He asked AI for links, background on venues, logic about who gets picked when.
"The big heart of this is I wasn't using the AI to write a report for me. I was using AI to make myself better at that particular goal."
Being able to simulate the world is the superpower that makes someone able to be a successful entrepreneur.
Simulating the world allows you to:
Loh warns about a dangerous trend:
"The world is so complicated that if you look at any situation in the world, sometimes depending on how you tell the story of what happened, you can say statements that are all true which make you come up with a different feeling."
AI can make convincing, reasonable arguments that are completely biased. If you can't think for yourself, you're at the mercy of whoever is feeding you information.
Everyone has an agenda.
Loh is upfront about his: "I'm trying to build a more thoughtful world."
But what if the agenda is to your detriment? If you can't think critically, you have no way of knowing.
This is why he consumes news from multiple sources—CNN, Fox, left-leaning and right-leaning social media feeds. He wants to see where they disagree, understand different perspectives, and form his own conclusions.
Loh makes a profound point about bias and diversity:
"We have Claude, we have OpenAI, there's also Gemini. If you're in China, there's DeepSeek. There are all of these, but that's relatively few if you think about it."
"That would be sort of like saying well the world has lots of different viewpoints it has five of them really no no the world has 7 and a half billion different viewpoints."
When AI becomes the primary way people learn and get information, we're compressing human diversity into a handful of corporate perspectives.
The beauty of humanity is the vast marketplace of ideas—7.5 billion different viewpoints, some bad, some good, all different.
If we lose that diversity of thought, we lose creativity, innovation, and resilience.
Loh shares a story about teaching in a high-poverty rural school:
He wrote "1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = ?" on the board. Before he could finish writing "=", kids were shouting "25!"
They were suggesting ideas, respectful of each other, engaged. It was one of the best classrooms he'd ever taught.
He asked: "Do these kids play games on their phones?"
"They don't have phones. It's because of the money. In fact, they might not even have the internet access."
"What do they do for fun?"
"Well, they just figure out how to make their own games."
This is enormous untapped potential.
Kids without screens, raised on creativity and problem-solving, with wits honed by necessity. This could unleash science and technology talent across not just the US, but the entire world.
Loh's argument has three layers:
Layer 1: AI is better than humans at technical skills. If your competitive advantage is coding, writing, or problem-solving, that advantage is evaporating.
Layer 2: The only sustainable skill is creating value for others. In a world where AI does the work, people will want to work with you because you make things better—not because you're technically superior.
Layer 3: Critical thinking is your defense against manipulation. If you can't evaluate information independently, you're at the mercy of whoever controls the AI models you use.
Loh's approach to education is simple: Teach people how to generate their own ideas.
"Philosophy is if you finish all of that you will discover that you can learn anything."
The goal isn't to have classes for you for every year of your life. It's to make it so that, as fast as possible, you don't need any classes from anyone ever again.
But he adds a crucial insight:
"I think that one of the skills that people will really need, it's that aspect of actually wanting to create value and delight in other people."
This isn't just about being nice. It's about survival.
Loh's perspective cuts through the AI hype. He's not saying AI is bad—he's saying the rules have changed, and most people haven't realized yet.
The age of "I'm smarter than you" is over. The age of "I create value for you" is here.
If you're reading this as a developer, builder, or founder, ask yourself:
Am I competing on skills AI will master? Or am I building systems that create value for others?
Can people simulate scenarios in their head? Or are they dependent on tools to think for them?
Am I consuming diverse perspectives? Or am I stuck in an echo chamber of a few AI models?
What would make people want to work with me even if AI can do my job?
If you don't have good answers to these questions, it's time to rethink.
Bottom line: AI will replace skill. It cannot replace value creation, critical thinking, or the human desire to delight others. Those are the only sustainable advantages left.
Founder & Lead Developer
With 8+ years building software from the Philippines, Jomar has served 50+ US, Australian, and UK clients. He specializes in construction SaaS, enterprise automation, and helping Western companies build high-performing Philippine development teams.
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