Earlier this month I published an article titled "A sobering, short-term warning about artificial intelligence and white-collar jobs". In it, I noted:
A professional is now expected to use AI to augment or supplement his training and experience, conducting searches, market research, etc. in the background while he applies himself to current problems in the foreground. It's reported that productivity improvements of up to several hundred per cent are being claimed - and those who aren't "getting with the program", learning to use AI to work smarter, are already finding their careers being sidelined or cut short.
In the past week, I've run into several more articles raising the specter of AI domination of different sectors of the economy, and what this might mean for workers. Examples:
- "Why More Farmers Are Turning To AI Machines": As the capabilities of robotics evolve, many jobs that once required human hands are being delegated to machines. Some artificial intelligence (AI) developers working on integrating this technology into America’s farms say early data support the possibility of a major farm labor force reduction.
- "Elon Musk Backs Universal High Income Fearing AI Will Take Every Job": Instead of living aimless lives without purpose, Musk believes that there’s another option: “Long term … any job that somebody does will be optional. … If you want to do a job as kinda like a hobby, you can do a job, but otherwise, the AI and robots will provide any goods and services that you want.”
- "YouTube secretly used AI to edit people's videos. The results could bend reality": YouTube made AI enhancements to videos without telling users or asking permission. As AI quietly mediates our world, what happens to our shared connection with real life? (See also my earlier article titled "What happens to trust when anything can be faked?")
- "Medicine goes AI": Medicine is precisely the sort of bounded field with measurable outcomes and complex inputs where human cognition is simply not that good and where AI can excel. And it’s coming. Fast ... In medicine the question is rapidly shifting from "Why should we risk AI hallucination?" to "Why should we risk it from humans?"
I daresay a lot of the hype is driven by technologically enthusiastic journalists, who are trying to position themselves as authority figures among the commentariat. The reality on the ground may not be as advanced or as useful as they posit, but artificial intelligence (and those who develop and sell it) seems to be trying to follow the self-hypnotic mantra of Émile Coué: "Every day, in every way, I'm getting better and better".
I'm curious. How many of us, dear readers, are actually experiencing a positive impact of artificial intelligence in our day-to-day lives? How many of us can say that we've encountered a "smart" system, or appliance, or interaction, that has shown AI to be superior to dealing with a human being? When it comes to telephone answering systems, for example, I'm finding it more and more difficult to call a company for support and get the assistance I need, because the AI "front-end" to their calling tree actively tries to prevent me speaking to a person, and instead tries to force me to interact with its limited and all-too-often inadequate menu. So far, I'd say my interactions with AI have been more negative than positive.
How about you, readers?
Peter
No comments:
Post a Comment