Hasn't this always been true? He makes the the point that curiosity, initiative etc. irrespective of your skills will thrive in the future.

Which I think it always has? It's always been the case that the most successful you either do that or hyperspecialize in something niche to become top 0.x% at it.

I think AI means that "pretty good at [skill]" will be less valuable, but the point of the article has always been true imo.