AI has been around for years – but now it’s taken over the conversation. Between market swings and headline‑heavy predictions about jobs and disruption, people who weren’t paying attention before suddenly are. In this month’s All That Matters, Mike and Ross dig into the power of narrative and what’s actually worth focusing on.
The Moment
Ross: AI has surged into the spotlight in 2026 – faster and more forcefully than almost anyone expected. Depending on where you sit, that rapid acceleration feels either thrilling or deeply uncomfortable. Software stocks, the very companies many believe are most exposed to AI disruption, are now experiencing their biggest selloff in 20 to 25 years. Layer on top of that the steady stream of stories about AI’s impact on white‑collar workers, on younger people entering the labor force, and on the economy more broadly. The narrative has gotten louder, more dramatic, and more uncertain by the week. And when the world gets noisy, humans fill in the blanks with stories – sometimes hopeful, often not.
Mike: That instinct to explain the unknown is what pushed me to write a blog about the power of narratives. I’ve been thinking not just about what AI is doing to the market right now, but how we’re trying to tell the story of what it might do next. And the moment it reminds me of most is COVID. In spring 2020, none of us knew what was going to happen. We were stuck in our homes, living through a once‑in‑a‑century disruption, and so we turned to narrative. Zoom became our lifeline – so much so that the market valued it higher than Exxon Mobil. Peloton soared to $50 billion as people declared gyms obsolete. Airline and hotel stocks collapsed because we assumed travel was gone for good. But those predictions didn’t arrive. We went back to offices, gyms, airports and client meetings. The stories made sense at the time – because they were all we knew. But they weren’t the future. And today’s AI moment feels just as foggy.
The Stories We’re Hearing
Ross: One thing we know: negative narratives rise to the top. They always have. A hundred years ago, the saying was “If it bleeds, it leads.” Today, social media amplifies that instinct – doomer scenarios spread faster than balanced perspectives. And the big AI narratives right now? They’re convincing precisely because no one can prove them wrong yet. But history gives us a counterpoint. Mike and I always come back to this: 60% of the jobs that exist today didn’t exist in 1940. That tells us something important – the economy isn’t a fixed pie. When new technology arrives, new industries, jobs, and forms of work emerge with it.
One of my favorite examples is the ATM. When ATMs appeared in the late 1960s, people predicted the end of bank tellers. Instead, teller employment rose for 40 years. Costs fell, branches opened, and tellers shifted into more complex, customer‑centric roles. Predictions of mass job loss from technology have been wrong again and again. So yes – AI may change the economy. But assuming it will hollow out the workforce entirely has historically been a losing bet.
Mike: And part of why those dire predictions fall flat is because they ignore something deeply human: we want to interact with other people. No one facing a life‑changing financial event – selling a business, losing a spouse, receiving an inheritance – turns to a chatbot and simply asks, “What do I do next?” The same is true in medicine. If I find a spot on an X‑ray, I’m not asking an AI model to diagnose it. I want someone who’s devoted their life to understanding it. AI may streamline tasks. It may reshape workflows. But it doesn’t replace human reassurance, judgment, or the ability to talk someone through uncertainty. And some of the darker narratives assume we’ll gladly give that up. I don’t buy it.
What Actually Matters
Mike: The future rarely lands at the extreme. AI won’t take all the jobs – but it will take some. It won’t eliminate entire sectors – but it will force companies to create more value. And most importantly, it won’t replace our need for human connection. That’s too fundamental to who we are. The narratives being spun right now might contain fragments of truth, but a whole lot of them won’t play out the way people fear. What does matter is mindset. The people who tend to succeed – in markets and in life – are those who believe the future will be better, not worse. That optimism isn’t blind; it’s practical. It’s how progress works. And it’s how investors position themselves to benefit from change, not shrink from it.
Ross: If you’ve got questions about what you’re hearing, or if you want to talk through the noise, reach out to your Baird Financial Advisor team. We’ll be back next month with whatever comes next.
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