Michael Ashley, Forbes Journalist Profile

Articles

The End Of Browsing? AI Is Rewriting The Rules Of Online Visibility

2 weeks ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

AI is fundamentally shifting how we search the web. Deposit PhotosBack when I was in high school, writing an academic essay was a chore. I’m talking leave-your-house-drive-to-the-library-to-search-for-citations-pain. Once, I spent an entire Saturday thumbing through books for quotes to back up my points. Later compiling that citation list in AP style was no joy either. By the time I got to college, the web had sped the search process way up. The miracle of online databases slashed my research time.
What Video Games Can Teach Us About Global Connectivity

3 weeks ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Could a common gaming challenge lead to more web connectivity for all? Deposit PhotosCalifornia drivers are a different breed. Especially if they’ve ever lived in Los Angeles. Maneuvering through L.A.’s congested streets is not for the faint of heart. It requires eternal vigilance and a willingness to be aggressive. When that light switches to yellow, you don’t slow down. You go, hopefully making it through before it flashes red.
Will AI Replace Cybersecurity? Not Quite-But It’s Rewriting The Rules

4 weeks ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Put yourself in the mind of a master cybercriminal. Fun, right? Stay with me. I promise this role play exercise will pay off. Just a few years ago, your illicit schemes were small time. You were content to steal unwitting individuals’ personal data, including credit card and social security numbers to buy merchandise on the Dark Web. Your petty exploits paid off—modestly but steadily. But it was a volume game.
Is Outsourcing Confidence The Next Big AI Trend?

1 month ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

“Even Dead, I’m The Hero…”These posthumous words from Tony Stark ring out from beyond the grave in Spider-Man: Far From Home. The acronym also spells out EDITH. That’s the name for the AI-successor to JARVIS, the super intelligence Iron Man once used to face off against evildoers like Thanos. EDITH arrives as a gift to Peter Parker in the form of augmented-reality (AR) glasses. But just how powerful are they?
Even Professors Are Now Cheating with AI

1 month ago | theaiphilosopher.substack.com | Michael Ashley

Imagine this situation: You’re 21, paying hundreds of thousands for college. To afford tuition, you juggle two side hustles: delivering pizzas and tutoring high schoolers. On top of that, you’re not even sure your degree will translate into a good job like it did only a few years ago. Then one day while poring through your class syllabus you notice something curious. It appears your professor forgot to delete the prompt he gave ChatGPT to create this document in the first place.
What If Soft Skills Are the Most Future-Proof Career Asset?

1 month ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Learn to code.” Remember that rallying cry? Just a few years ago, conventional thinking suggested AI would replace blue collar workers en masse. Pundits suggested truckers would soon be out of work. This prompted commentators to suggest drivers, cashiers, and warehouse staff learn coding to stay vocationally relevant. This logic was based on a broader assumption: that computing skills would remain in high demand. Is that really the case in 2025 when it comes to AI and jobs?
Digital Twins And Virtual Stores: The Future Of Retail Is Here

1 month ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

“But seriously, I actually have a way normal life for a teenage girl,” says Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone) in the classic comedy hit Clueless. “I mean I get up. I brush my teeth. And I pick out my school clothes.” The camera then shows us how the fashion-forward teenager uses her home computer to select her daily outfits using a primitive digital twin of her body. Of course, this film hit theatres in 1995, so the graphics are also wanting.
From Panic To Power: What Leaders Must Learn In The AI Age

1 month ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Imagine you’re CEO of a successful accounting firm. You’ve just wrapped up another busy tax season—this time, without a hint of stress. In fact, things are going so swimmingly that you were just nominated for an entrepreneurial reward. Life is good. Predictable, too—just the way your analytical mind prefers it. You only breezed into the office today to finish up some last-minute paperwork. Right after that you’re taking your partner and kids for a well-deserved vacation to sunny Hawaii.
A Billionaire’s Guide To Future-proofing Your Career

2 months ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Imagine you turn 18 when artificial general intelligence (AGI) arrives. Already you felt the same vexing anxieties so many of your peers share. For years now, you’ve wondered what you should study—or if you should study at all. More and more you worry that AI will take all the good jobs, making you question just what to do with your adult life. And now? AGI is here—and shaking up the whole world.
Graduate Smart: Career Advice For The AI Era

2 months ago | forbes.com | Michael Ashley

Spring has sprung. It’s getting warmer. April showers have commenced. Flowers are blooming—and so is all that once-dormant grass. We’re fast approaching graduation season. Soon it will be time for all those proud teens on adulthood’s cusp to parade across the stage, diplomas in hand. Only this year feels different. Uncertain. It’s not just the fact that a tariff war is well underway. AI is the underlying cause of so much head scratching and soul searching of late.