Jodi Kantor's 'How to Start' Offers Career Guidance for the AI Era

Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times journalist Jodi Kantor has published a new book, 'How to Start,' which reframes the challenges of beginning a career in an age of automation and AI. In a conversation with CULTURED Editor-in-Chief Sarah Harrelson, Kantor discusses the loneliness of modern job searching, the inadequacy of 'follow your passion' advice, and the importance of craft and need. She emphasizes that young people are essential to the workplace despite AI fears, and offers practical tools like tracking positive emotions. The book is informed by Kantor's own struggles, including being kicked off the Columbia University paper and dropping out of Harvard Law School. She aims to counter the message that young workers are superfluous, arguing that workplaces need influxes of new talent. Kantor's daughter, 20, supervised the writing to ensure no false optimism. The book is published by Little, Brown and Company.