Best answer so far. Technology fads come and go. Anyone in the business for any length of time has seen so many of them. If you just get your news from the HN bubble, you're likely to believe AI/ML is all anyone does anymore, but I'd speculate that it's needed in less than 1% of all programming projects out there now and in the near future.
If you're a programmer, focus on the fundamentals: Learn to write new code and maintain legacy code. Learn to write tests. Learn API design. Learn how to estimate projects. Learn to differentiate between a risky code change and one that isn't risky. Learn to refactor something without changing its functionality. Read/know the literature. Don't get hung up on any particular language, framework or technology.
The fads are cyclical too. This isn't the first go around for AI, the last time AI was hot was the 80's, then there was the famous AI 'winter'. It's important to recognize hype for what it easy. Like the thread on meteor.js the other day. After the hype subsided, a lot of people realized they didn't really need what meteor.js provided.
Seems like "HN bubble" is a large part of this person's challenge. Like you say, "Technology fads come and go", and there's no place quite like HN to have your sanity picked apart by fad-feeding frenzies and when, all is said and done, the often time-wasting arguments and ultimately irrelevant material that flies around on HN.
Exactly, the same thing happened with mobile a few years ago and it just didn't click with me. There was a bubble of mobile developers, apps and firms. I can recall at least 4 such firms that placed all their bets on mobile projects, and they're not around any more. And mobile has/had a much much greater market shaping influence than AI/ML will.
Actually, be wary with this sort of "specialization" because if the market shrinks or stops growing, you'll end up isolated from the work force.
Evergreen. I've been doing this professionally since 2000, with coding going back to the mid 90s when I was in school.
I'm at a client site that is still rolling things from their MAINFRAMES into web apps. I know some old LISP programmers that are freaking out that major systems will die because the youngest person on the team is pushing 60 with no code or programmer replacement in site.
There's always a long tail, and always something new coming out.
1997: Is my career doomed if I don't become a web developer? No.
2007: Is my career doomed if I don't become a mobile developer? No.
2017: Is my career doomed if I don't become an AI/ML developer? No.
2027: Is my career doomed if I don't become a/an [...]? No.