Automating the Demise of Jobs and Society as We Know It
The rise of AI and automation has been nothing short of meteoric. The last year has been a race to implant this magical tech. A rise of OpenAI competitors coming for the throne, as their own leadership fight battles from within. On the anniversary of ChatGPT’s launch, its footprint is undeniable.
But with this rise comes a looming question: What does this mean for jobs?
The automation paradox is evident as we see more questions arise about the cause and the future of work. Reports of job cuts clash with announcements of AI-driven efficiency gains.
History, however, offers a pattern: technological disruption is followed by adaptation. The World Economic Forum forecasts that while automation may displace 85 million jobs by 2025, it will also generate 97 million new roles. Statista echoes this sentiment, projecting a market expansion to $126 billion by the same year.
The past decade has been a crusade for tech literacy, spawning a plethora of jobs and consumer products. A universe of apps and websites emerged, prompting us to ponder their ultimate purpose.
Companies are beginning to acknowledge a finite demand for their digital offerings. The vast array of content we’ve fed into the digital ether now faces a challenger in AI, capable of learning nearly without bounds.
AI’s capabilities are vast, from the mundane to the remarkable. Public opinion on AI ranges from alarm to indifference. For years, AI has been a subtle presence in search engines, video games, chatbots, and tools like Salesforce, IFTTT, and Zapier. While initially unremarkable, today’s AI, exemplified by ChatGPT, is a different beast altogether, embodying our most valued trait: the ability to learn.
Enter ChatGPT and countless others. These entities encapsulate the essence of learning — our most prized skill, now encapsulated in a chat window. It’s what they are programmed to do.
The concern isn’t novel; we’ve grappled with the implications of automation before. Theoretically, we’re equipped to navigate this transition. But the real challenge isn’t AI itself. Our real demise? Falling back to old patterns.
Innovation is often prematurely dismissed as irrelevant. The true danger lies not in being replaced by AI, but by those who master it.
Bill Gates warned in 2013, “Twenty years from now, labor demand for lots of skill sets will be substantially lower. I don’t think people have that in their mental model.”
A decade on, we’re witnessing the early stages of this prediction. AI has been a boon for some already, but the outlook for the next ten years is uncertain.
So what are we learning in this moment? We have the means to advance and not be replaced by AI, we know that AI needs a thoughtful operator. But what are we doing to advance humanity’s purpose and cause?
A little learning is a dangerous thing
It seems like technology continues to reduce our need to retain knowledge. It’s changed how we learn. Gone are the days of citing encyclopedic sources.
Tech has made most anything learnable, also even more at risk of thinking we know enough. Suppose we have all that we could consume from Wikipedia, but it doesn’t make us experts.
No matter how capable we are at automating understanding, we can’t guarantee the knowledge was there—or legit, relatable, etc.—in the first place. AI doesn’t know when is enough, or what we know but haven’t captured.
Before we get aroused by all that ChatGPT knows, or could, we can’t forget how much resides in our own minds, or lost to antiquated tech.
Humans are the original learning machines. We do it uniquely well, it’s hard-coded in our DNA.
It’s thought that our ability to “acquire knowledge and skills from other people” and form culture is what helped humans stand out, and survive.
But we’ve failed to differentiate ourselves from the machines that we’re threatened by. Instead we have resorted to comparing ourselves to them, instilling them with our talents. Even to a fault. Now, again we’re faced with questioning our own survival.
Today, we have more data and knowledge than anyone knows what to do with. Or could humanly consume. It’s impossible to retain. We’re suffocating in information, in a meme-ified life.
But knowledge that’s inaccessible isn’t helpful. Search far and wide for content that exists but isn’t documented, it won’t be found. As result, our devices and the internet have become extensions of our consciousness, a collective human knowledge base that’s searchable — if you know what you’re searching for.
It seems like just yesterday that we learned how to search— primitive internet steps.
If you’re good at learning, and you’re good at helping others learn, you might have felt more secure finding work. For plenty, the art of searching, questioning, and discovery seemed to be a safeguard against obsolescence. Now AI does that even better.
It’s hard to remember that pre-pandemic tech aversion was normal. But most were forced to adopt, warm to the internet. As an adult educator, I learned most struggled querying search engines eloquently, even decades later. The skill of seeking, finding something is crucial but evades many.
The art of ‘Googling’ is a skill in itself, one that’s still challenging for many, as evidenced by the enduring relevance of the phrase “Let me Google that for you,” now augmented by ChatGPT.
Platforms like Quora have also embraced GPT technology. User-generated content is being supplemented by AI-curated insights, and Amazon is applying similar principles to its review system. The need for deep, manual research is diminishing — as long as the sources are trustworthy.
Search engines have not always yielded the best results. Not everything was searchable, and search wasn’t always a multi-billion dollar industry. Early search engines like Ask Jeeves or Bing didn’t devalue wisdom or the practice of research; they were tools that required skillful use.
In 2005, seven years after Google’s debut, the creator of voicemail launched ChaCha, a service that brought search to SMS. People could pay a nickel for someone to search and answer within minutes. At last, access to the masses! And it only took 5,000 freelance searchers with SMS.
After about 5 years and 1.8B searches later, the company started to decline. By then, most everyone had graduated to broadband, smart phones had entered the chat, and the world was facing a recession. Search did just fine.
It was only a matter of time before everyone started playing nice with robots. Search got better because we got better at thinking about search. Why? Ads, SEO, SEM. There’s an entire economy built around Google’s search engine, now at risk.
Early search engines required thoughtful operators, or be faced with poor results. Early ChatGPT is no different.
Not only are thoughtful prompts integral to good GPT results, but it’s easy to dismiss value unless someone is intending on finding practical use.
Consider some common use cases, like image or content creation. Unbelievable results, a Harry Potter trailer represented in any stereotype or production style you please. It’s simple enough to create most anything: LEGO instructions, archival retouching, deepfakes, YouTube recaps, live translation — there’s super-accessible options and more social media carousels than anyone has time for.
When you look at it that way, it doesn’t seem very threatening. As if jobs unscathed by the search engine and social media booms will keep on.
It’s easy to dismiss AI as a luxury or gimmick. But if you start looking around, you’ll notice there’s clearly room for concern. Microsoft’s Github has enabled its Copilot AI across its ecosystem. Some of our most trusted human interactions are being exchanged with chatbots.
And it’s easy to look past, AI’s real threat isn’t out in the open. It’s learning in the background while you sleep. The LLMs, or large language models, that bolster these bots, are designed to further offset our need to process. The compounding learning, partnerships, and data influx are sure to provide for flashy marketing experiences. And for many, whose brand experience was poor to begin with, it may even seem like an improvement.
AI isn’t going anywhere though, and it’s only becoming better at learning. Surely people may feel the pressure of automation in their jobs soon enough.
Beware! The automations are coming!
The Silent Reshaping of Industries: Once, the hum of factories was the soundtrack of progress. Today, it’s the silent whirr of servers running sophisticated AI models.
Nearly a year following ChatGPT’s debut, what is it good for.
Technologies like ChatGPT and LLMs are no longer the stuff of sci-fi; they’re the architects of our digital reality. And they’re iterating daily. But as they weave the fabric of this new world, what happens to the traditional threads of human labor?
Is AI to be feared? Surely not. But whether a matter of preservation or adaptation, we can’t ignore it. The impact on social interactions, privacy, ethics, and daily life are still to be determined, but are playing out in front of our eyes.
The realities and long-term impacts are being felt beyond jobs. A decade ago consumers found security in brands that rejected Photoshop, it’s now vogue to create assets and experiences that are patently fake and AI-enhanced.
Tech and education, nearly undone by the threat alone, have taken heed with steady implementation. GPT-enabled tutors, primitive ‘smart tools’ are everywhere, even Harvard has aimed to include AI-instructors.
While some creators are adopting whole-heartedly — others push back: copywriters, authors, musicians, artists all have been going after AI. Meanwhile, Pharrell nearly invites in Rolling Stone to steal his voice. He calls it human nature, accepting the fate of deepfakes and artists ripping his trademark style as their own.
Adapt or die, right?
Unlike primitive search, it’s not difficult to produce something miraculous with AI. The gifts that have set creators apart are now summoned by well-written prompts. The strikes, protests, and lawsuits that result seek to protect their talent and trade. Institutions are scrambling to establish precedent for IP and respecting sources.
It was the same way with Pinterest a decade ago. Most every brand and artist fought to have their content taken down, but it became too large to fight. Ultimately, Pin-novation followed with analytics, APIs and e-commerce. As with Google Images, TikTok and others still.
This is the opportunity of our time, either strive for control or accept the challenge. Instead of exhausting yourself fighting automation, ride the wave until you’re ahead of it. It’s not going anywhere.
Dialing up two revolutions
The year is 1998, AOL is still king and online dating a new reality. Cue Harry Nilsson…
The film You’ve Got Mail starts with a nod at tech being “the end of civilization as we know it”. A time of Solitaire having to be taken off of work computers for fear of wasted time. “The rise of the superstore.” Physical books, no less.
The plot of You’ve Got Mail places the Little Shop Around the Corner in the way of a total neighborhood monopoly on lit goods. Loyal customers take to the streets and to the press. They suggest that to overcome the heaping competitor would equate to a total “reversal of the Industrial Revolution.” It seems silly and over-the-top.
They feared the rise of corporate greed…and the grim reality of boutique shops competing against them. The burgeoning internet is still new enough to be coy. Digital devices and the later e-commerce that would overcome and ultimately be the demise of those very chains. How prescient.
The film captured the quaintness and optimism the internet promised, at a time when we chose to ‘dial-up’ with our noisy modems for nascent websites.
Today, AI is indifferent to the fate of corner shops. It doesn’t ponder the moral implications of its existence or the jobs it might displace. Imagine going on a date with someone that not only put nearby bookstores out of business, they ‘read’ every book at the library. That’s the reality of AI. It’s not just here to stay; it’s become an integral part of the social fabric, with people ‘dating’ it, relying on it, and yes, it’s ‘read’ all the books.
ChatGPT isn’t safeguarding against services or industries, but that’s not its function. It’s a tool, not a guardian.
Let’s do the time warp…yet again
History is replete with examples of technological upheavals, each bringing about a seismic shift in the roles and responsibilities within society. When advances displaces traditional roles, it creates a demand for new skills to manage and optimize the emerging innovations. Technological unemployment is inevitable, but it’s not permanent. Tech’s future is also not determined. How we respond matters.
The Industrial Revolution amassed fears of replacement of human strength. Yet, as traditional roles were phased out, new roles emerged for those who could master and operate these machines. The steam engine, once a symbol of industrial alienation, became an emblem of human progress.
Today’s AI revolution evokes similar sentiments. But if history has taught us anything, it’s that adaptation, not resistance, paves the way forward. Now, we find ourselves amidst another monumental shift. This time, it’s savvy not strength being replaced.
Much like past revolutions, AI brings forth legitimate fears but also bounds of opportunities. Professionals are competing with tireless algorithms. The ability to process, predict, produce, and optimize has shifted from human to machine, challenging us to find our place in this new digital landscape.
We’re witnessing automation and industries pushing boundaries. The explorers are implementing and learning from AI, while others resist.
AI is not a harbinger of doom but a beacon of opportunity. It’s democratizing access to information, skills, and opportunities. While AI can process and predict, it requires the human touch for direction and purpose. It needs new perspectives to fight bias and build representation.
In this brave new world, knowledge isn’t power; application is. The key to relevance? Continuous learning and the ability to apply knowledge in innovative ways.
AI needs an operator, a thought one
Around 2019, Walmart announced it was laying off its greeter and shelf-stocking workforce with robots. It was a sign.
People didn’t like it, and it wasn’t long before Walmart reversed its decision. Of course today, no shortage of shelf-stocking and CX AI or robots out there being developed. And turns out, we’re back to it, as Walmart rolls out yet another try.
When we take out the human element, automation that stands to replace can seem scary. Jobs aside, people still want to know that there’s privacy, attention to detail, and empathy.
But today we have less patience for machines and treat them as poorly. People also want to know that a person’s job or wellbeing wasn’t replaced also.
Technology takes time, but often promises us a new path, littered with potential. If we don’t reconsider the use and stay open to impact, we’re essentially agreeing to automate something that’s already broken.
That means it’s on us to help direct the path of AI.
As users start to recognize now, AI is flawed and produces artifacts and bias, even conflating insights. Not because it’s programming is particularly flawed, but because of the disconnect that exists between user and machine. The AI is not intelligence itself, and it cannot decipher between truths and fabrications — that’s where we come in.
The human element remains vital. Despite AI’s advancements, the human perspective, our collective lived experience, and ability to operate technology remain irreplaceable.
As we focus on automation, it’s even more vital we involve people. Context, accuracy, practicality are all missing from today’s algorithm. While we don’t know what will come next, here’s your moment.
In any revolution, command of trade and skill was defensible. Today, it’s not having knowledge that matters, though, it’s being able to use it.
The future belongs to those who are willing to learn and adapt, not to those who resist change. Let AI help you learn and adapt. Or rather, evolve, strive to last, not endure the moment.
As we stand on the cusp of this AI epoch, the path forward is mired in uncertainty. But one thing is clear: the future isn’t written by algorithms but by those who harness their power. It’s a world where humans and machines coexist, collaborate, and create.
Nothing is immutable, and neither is ChatGPT but …for now, and for all digital and tech enabled, they surely will be forged from them bots.
