In 2016, Award-winning American author Neal Shusterman published Scythe, a young adult science fiction novel. In the world of Scythe, humanity handed an Artificial Intelligence control of everything in the world. Everything. Food production, economics, health and science, and the storage of all knowledge, It had the perfect ability to account for every problem that mankind could not fix itself, solve it, and sustain it. Its sole purpose was to serve mankind and provide for their every need. Everyone had enough food and housing. Diseases were wiped out. War was a memory.
No one had to work unless they wanted a new hobby.
Well…the AI of today is nearly that that sophisticated or benevolent. It can’t solve every problem. It can’t solve most problems. Nevertheless, AI will take some jobs.
However, it can’t ALL jobs — or even most jobs.
AI is a buzzword.
First of all, let’s look at the phrase Artificial Intelligence. What is AI? Well, AI is technically only the first word of that phrase.
AI is definitely “artificial” — made by humans and not naturally occurring. It takes huge teams of skilled programmers to create a system that poorly mimics the art, writing, and computer programming that a human can create.
AI is not “intelligent” — the people who create and maintain it are. AI does not learn unless it is told what to learn and where to look. Even then, it is only collecting information so that it can use human-created rules to rewrite that information later to sound vaguely human. But it is not living at all.
AI does not know that it exists. It has no feelings, so it cannot create original works of art or poetry — other than by altering some other artists’ and writers’ work.
ChatGPT, Google’s Bard, etc are all programs taught to search the internet and find information. The fact that it can tell you that in a near-realistic conversation doesn’t make it intelligent. It was also taught how to sound human. Sometimes it can’t even do that.
What AI cannot do.
A system made to collect information and rewrite it “in its own words” is naturally subject to error.
Again, AI cannot create original works. Every word that it writes and every piece of art that it produces is a reinterpretation of another artists unlicensed, copywritten — and therefore stolen — work. Even then the work that it produces often features eight-fingered hands and rearranged faces.
Will these issues ever be corrected? Of course. But it will take a human to fix them and a human to check the results for decades to come. That’s a job. A lot of jobs.
AI cannot be trusted to be produce accurate information, either. Take the Federal lawsuit thrown out because the plaintiff’s lawyers used OpenAI to cite six legal cases which never happend. AI is not going to replace a good paralegal who puts in the hours to cite real cases. In the unlikely event that it can replace a legal researcher, a human will need to double-check that research.
Besides that, no human is likely to allow an AI to defend them in court, no matter how advanced it is.
So jobs will AI take from humans?
Yes, surely. How many jobs will AI take? Surprisingly, this is unclear. Many companies are jumping to use AI, sometimes without a clear concept of what it is or how to use it. Those AI systems need to be written, by humans, quality tested, by humans, maintained by humans.
But jobs have already been taken. AI was used instead of artists to create the intro to Marvel’s “Secret Invasion” TV series. It was not received well — AI art is almost immediately noticeable and is largely frowned on in the art community. But AI did take jobs from artists. Still ChatGPT, Gemini, and other AIs have not found their place in art society yet.
Then there is a question of money. The laws about using art and writing without compensating their creators have not been written. Legislation will do much to dictate its usage, hopefully. The strength of the compensation to artists that these laws will require will dictate how AI is used in business.
Then there is the question of ethics. AI is a new, questionably-ethical, error-prone creation. It has been used to steal, to imitate, and to harass countless people, most famously celebrities. The laws to protect people have not been written either. Those laws will require humans to police what AI creates.
But what we do know is that AI cannot replace the human hand and mind.
ChatGPT cannot assemble a car or pack a box. Gemini cannot clean facilities or pave roads or write a moving screenplay. Bard cannot work in a call center. NightCafe cannot create original works of art.
Frankly, humans already don’t like the over-saturation of their favorite franchises. Imagine if the art and writing all came from an AI recycling whatever story it could find on the internet.
Humans will always be needed for the arts, writing, maintenance, construction, and to manage anything where humans lives are severely impacted or are on the line.
Even if we ever come to the point where we have the benevolent, intelligent AI found in Shusterman’s Scythe, the world will be so different that this entire article will look like a horse-drawn carriage beside a space shuttle.
A Practical Example.
Let’s look at what a human artist can do with simple instructions compared to an AI.
Below is the HJG Staffing logo as created by a human.
Simple. To the point.
Here are a set of images created by SDXL 1.0 using a prompt describing the above image.
The prompt: Three featureless cartoon people. Head and torso are round and blue. One is bigger than the other two. Below them are the words “HJG Staffing” and below that are the words “Moving People Forward.”
Some of the images have three people. None are featureless. Only two attempted to add the words. But also arms and hands are difficult for AI…obviously.
Turning this in would get an artist terminated.
While there is something here that could be used, a human would have to take this work of an AI — built on the stolen work of human artists — to make it work.
Perhaps we’ll try again. This time with one image and a longer processing time using the same prompt.
HJG certainly works to “move people forward.” Forward to the 24th Century Mars colony is maybe too far.
Also our name and motto seems to be a mix of Greek(?) and Tolkien’s Elvish writing.
Let’s hear from the AI.
To close this out, it seems fitting to ask ChatGPT about its “thoughts” on the topic.
Question to ChatGPT: Will AI take all of the jobs?
Answer:
The impact of AI on jobs is a complex and debated topic. While AI has the potential to automate certain tasks and jobs, it also creates new opportunities and enhances productivity in various sectors. Here are a few points to consider:
- Automation of Routine Tasks: AI and automation technologies can replace certain repetitive and routine tasks, especially those that are rules-based and do not require human creativity or intuition.
- Creation of New Jobs: At the same time, AI also creates new job opportunities in fields such as data science, machine learning engineering, AI research, and AI ethics.
- Augmentation of Human Work: Rather than replacing humans entirely, AI often complements human work by automating repetitive tasks and allowing humans to focus on higher-level tasks that require creativity, emotional intelligence, and problem-solving skills.
- Shift in Job Roles: AI may lead to a transformation in job roles, requiring workers to adapt and acquire new skills. Some jobs may evolve to incorporate AI technologies, while others may become obsolete. Lifelong learning and upskilling become increasingly important in this changing job landscape.
- Socioeconomic Impacts: The widespread adoption of AI could have socioeconomic implications, including income inequality and job displacement in certain sectors. Governments and organizations need to implement policies and initiatives to mitigate these impacts, such as investing in education and training programs for displaced workers.
Overall, while AI may lead to job displacement in certain sectors, it also presents opportunities for economic growth, innovation, and the creation of new types of jobs.
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