6 High Income Skills That AI Won’t Replace in 2026

About this video

He outlines six highest-paying jobs he says will survive the next decade and pay six figures without med school. From the bottom: creative directors ($100k to $130k per year, medium learning curve and medium competition) — be a director over a doer, with taste, vision and emotional intelligence, as single-person marketing teams replace agencies; data analysts (also $100k to $130k, medium learning curve, high competition) who extract insights from the data companies collect; cyber security specialists ($110,000 to $140,000 a year, higher learning curve, low competition) protecting against AI-enabled hacking, impersonation and ransomware; robotics engineers (salary starts at $115,000 to $150,000 a year, high learning curve, medium competition) who combine hardware and software to automate the physical world — he says there are literally 10 robotics companies in the world, three of them from China that he monitors; full-stack software engineers (median salary $120,000 to $160,000 a year, medium difficulty, higher competition) who design scalable, secure systems while, he says, AI is writing 90% of the code today; and number one, AI and machine learning specialists (minimum starting salary $130K, but, he says, making 180 plus), who build models, recommendation and agentic systems. He claims Zuck paid his top engineers $100 million a piece for 18 people, and argues AI specialists create new recipes while normal developers follow them.

Key takeaways

• Creative directors and data analysts are both put at $100k to $130k per year — creative direction trades on taste and vision, data analysis on turning company data into strategy
• Cyber security is put at $110,000 to $140,000 a year with low competition, because, he argues, AI also empowers more people to steal information and impersonate others
• Robotics engineering starts at $115,000 to $150,000 a year and is defensible, he says, because it combines hardware and software as labor costs rise
• Full-stack software engineers have a median salary of $120,000 to $160,000 a year; the value is designing scalable, secure systems, not just prompting AI to build an app
• AI and machine learning specialists are ranked number one, with a $130K minimum starting salary and, in his account, many making 180 plus — be the one building AI, not only using it

Episode details: published August 12, 2025 · 11:48 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Dan Martell’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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