Talk So Real It Can’t Be Artificial. Or… Is AI Going to Replace Us?
All opinions expressed here are mine and mine alone and not affiliated in any way with my employers: past, present, or future.
“Is AI going to replace us?”
I’ve wondered that myself. I know I’m not alone. You can’t go further than two humble-brag posts without finding another “Is AI going to replace us?” article.
Usually the answer is something like “Of course not! The ones controlling AI will replace people who aren’t… and if you want to be one of those controlling it, you can take my course for the low price of US$899!”
Let’s try a different angle — a down-to-earth, non-hype, non-sales-based, non-venture-capitalist angle — a perspective that also goes by the name “reality.”
I think when we ask ourselves “Is AI Going to Replace Us?” we’re wondering two things. The first is near and practical, the second, distant and philosophical.
- The first part is fear that our job will be eliminated. A computer will do what we do faster, cheaper, and better. We’ll lose our source of income. Our skills won’t matter anymore.
- The second part of “Is AI going to replace us?” is philosophical. We fear that human beings are going to become irrelevant and then eliminated by AI-controlled robots. AI will take the fun out of things because it will be better at art, better at music, better at sports, better-looking, and funnier.
“Is AI going to replace us?” is a single question with two parts. Let’s explore them separately.
PART ONE: Near and Practical: Is AI Going to take our Jobs?
Real talk. Maybe. It’s entirely possible whatever job you’re doing now will be replaced by AI, leaving you with lost years and no way to earn income, skills that become irrelevant. Notice I didn’t say that replacing your job with AI will be a good idea, or that it will do your job better.
It’s also entirely possible your job will be eliminated by cheaper labor, or because the board decides to go in a different direction, or any number of reasons.
Another possibility is that AI would make your job easier, and it will at least in part live up to the hype.
The point is, the answer to this part of the “Will AI replace us?” question is: maybe, maybe not. Maybe AI will take your job, or it will be taken by some other way. Maybe it will make your job different, and you’ll be able to do some tasks easier, and you’ll be free to do more rewarding things. AI isn’t new in that respect, it’s just another entry in an already-existing list of possible threats and opportunities.
Frankly, I’m surprised recent job cuts at high-profile tech firms like Meta, Google, and Amazon haven’t been falsely blamed on AI’s progress.
This real talk can sound bleak but let me give it a more optimistic, more realistic spin. If AI is going to replace your job, it probably won’t happen immediately. You have time to react.
For example: let’s recall data entry jobs. Back when, they were everywhere. When scanners first came out, it took a while for OCR (optical character recognition) to emerge, then enter easy, widespread use. Over time the price came down, the tech improved, people understood how to apply it, tools to apply it emerged — and by then — most data entry jobs were gone.
People were still needed to process the data and apply it. The job was eliminated but the work just went somewhere else in the pipeline of processing information.
But it didn’t happen overnight. Sometimes tech that exists isn’t adopted because the roll-out is too expensive or for some other reason impractical.
Let this be a warning: it is possible that AI is coming for your job, but it likely won’t happen immediately. You have time, but you must act.
Your action items in the face of all this AI hype are things you’ve probably already doing: diversify your skills, start learning how to use AI now. It can have enormous benefits, but only if you’re literate with it. Improve your knowledge, build your network, keep your resume up to date.
In other words, do all the usual wise things when you fear your job may be eliminated. Because it might. Maybe by AI — or maybe by more traditional means. At the very least, AI is going to affect your work, maybe even in a positive way, so it would also be wise to start learning now.
PART TWO: Is AI Going to Replace Humanity?
My thoughts: no. It will be more of a sidekick, it will co-exist. For the most part, AI will amplify. Creative minds will use it to be even more creative. Not-so-creative people will use it to fill in the gaps in their creativity. (For example, I don’t always draw well. Using DALL-E2 to create graphics is a huge help.)
Can AI do creative things previously thought to be exclusively human, like art and writing? Sure. But if we think a little deeper, this part of the “Will AI replace us?” is more specifically asked as “Will AI replace what we value?”
What do you value, anyway? And what does “The Job Market” value? Are they the same? Likely not. And how would it matter to you if more “beings” (human or AI) did those things?
Can AI make art? Yes. But you won’t value it as much as a drawing that a child made for you. I’d skip past the Museum of Modern Art to gaze in wonder at a drawing a child made with sincere care just for me.
AI art isn’t going to replace a gift drawing from a child you love, even if the child gave the horse five legs.
Can AI write a blog post? It sure can. But would you want to read such a lifeless piece of prose? I wouldn’t. Yes, I know there’s a market for dull writing, and lots of people claim they’re making astounding cash by helping AI write boring things instead of being boring themselves.
So what does that eco-system value? Creativity and impact? Or speed and volume?
For those type of writers, and their goal of producing dry posts at an ever-increasing speed, AI is a good tool. Then again, if the market they exploit accepts such vanilla stuff, they might be replaced. Why pay a person to write flat material if AI can do it? For the rest of us, AI will drive us to be more unique, more ourselves.
I can envision a future where creative agencies brag that their process cannot be replicated by AI. How? It would have to be so unique, so personalized, that a generalized creative AI could never replicate it.
Can AI beat the best chess players in the world? Yes. But so what? That’s just AI software accessing data. Yawn. A human chess player has trained for years, performing an amazing feat of mental discipline by storing and studying countless moves. An AI playing chess is just a computer moving data like any other app: from a spreadsheet tracking widget sales or a GPS finding a new restaurant.
“Will AI replace humanity?” I don’t know. It depends on how you view humanity. What is it about humanity that makes you think AI can replace it?
It’s time to reflect on your values. If the value you place in other humans is equal to a piece of software, then maybe you need to re-think those values. Maybe they need an adjustment.
And even if AI can compete with the best humans, would humans stop doing what they enjoy?
Talk so Real it can’t be Artificial
The fear of AI illuminates a real concern. Especially for those of us in the USA. We live in a society adequately (if cynically) summarized as “serve the market or die.” In the USA, we humans are too often viewed as unthinking, unfeeling cyborgs. A user inputs instructions and we output profit.
We fear AI will replace humanity because too many in power — and far too many of our institutions — treat humanity like we’re just machines.
Fear of AI is coming from a sensible place. If some in power know they can replace humans cheaply and with minimal effort — they will. Then we’ll be at the mercy of the ever-attacked, already fraying social safety net (unemployment, social security.)
That’s why we are often suspicious of new players on the scene (in this case, AI) in the same way current workers across the ages have been hostile to new workers. Because our system is too harsh, our safety-net too fragile. Because losing income is too painful and too dangerous.
AI is a technology, a tool, and subject to all the good and bad of humanity depending on who wields it and how. But it will definitely have an impact.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could embrace it fully and know that should it eliminate our jobs, we’d be confident in a safety net to help us land on our feet?
Will AI replace humanity? It depends on what you value. Do we really only value humanity for what they can output for profit? Is that how you want your value measured, and that measurement tied to your ability to survive?
Yes, learn AI and how it affects you, but I’d also vote we build a stronger safety net for all. We’re all in this together, along with AI. That’s how we’ll sink or swim: together.
Next Time:
Whew! That got HEAVY! Despite all this talk about AI, and my nerdy fascination with it, is it all too hyped? Does it have any practical use for those not in specific fields? Maybe. I think AI is going to become a tool. A clever, ever-present sidekick. I like to think of it as R2D2 in the original 1977 Star Wars (you know, the only good one).
Luke flew his X-wing fighter, while R2D2 handled repairs. The little guy acted on his own for the better of his owner, took orders, and sometimes did his own thing against his owner’s commands: like a super-intelligent dog. I think that’s the future of AI at its most optimistic: a digital assistant that take orders to complete tasks, and when there’s no assignment, it uses its own initiative. And every once in a while, it ignores your orders and saves you from yourself.
So let’s talk about that next time: real-world practical applications of AI.
#ai #artificialintelligence #chatgpt #googlebard #thoughtleadership #tech
