Source: https://image.cnbcfm.com/api/v1/image/107216138-1680003265064-gettyimages-1225909164-20191205_1335_2.jpeg?v=1680012218&w=929&h=523&vtcrop=y
I’ve been trying to avoid writing a depressing Artificial Intelligence blog for a while, but I couldn’t resist the urge after several news outlets began to show off a new report from Goldman Sachs that focuses on the impact of AI in the workplace. In short, researchers at Goldman Sachs discovered that 300 million jobs around the world are vulnerable to some degree of AI takeover. Here is one analogy from an Oxford researcher that I thought helped explain the dangers of AI integration: “Consider the introduction of GPS technology and platforms like Uber. Suddenly, knowing all the streets in London had much less value – and so incumbent drivers experienced large wage cuts in response, of around 10% according to our research. The result was lower wages, not fewer drivers.” In my previous blog about images being generated with AI, it is easy to see how AI could swiftly destroy the careers of contracted artists, such as logo designers, by creating numerous unskilled artists who just use AI to generate products faster and better than their competitors.
Multiple reports, including the Goldman Sachs report, highlighted US legal workers and administrative staff as particularly at risk from generative Artificial Intelligence. Other office jobs such as consulting, insurance, and data entry are also likely to be impacted. At the lower end of the spectrum, maintenance, construction, and cleaning jobs are the least likely to be automated, as they fall into a manual labor sector that can be difficult to automate.
However, Goldman Sachs estimated that AI integrations could result in a gradual increase of over 7% in the United States GDP (Gross Domestic Product value). In addition, according to the BBC, the UK government is eager to promote investments in AI, as they believe advances in AI will increase productivity. These reports portray AI as a tool to increase productivity with the unfortunate side effect of making several jobs obsolete. I believe that Artificial Intelligence will be a transformative force. For example, ChatGPT (the controversial all-purpose online program many of us have used) has not made assigning homework ineffective because it takes a personal touch to understand what an instructor actually wants out of a question. As a computer science major, I use ChatGPT to explain concepts that my instructors have badly explained during lectures. ChatGPT is a useful tool that increases my productivity, but it can’t outright do my homework because it doesn’t understand the open-ended questions that I have been given (many times I don’t understand them either). Right now, Artificial Intelligence is only as powerful as the user behind it. Akin to how search engines evolved, I believe AI will become easier to use as it advances.
All in all, 300 million jobs lost is a frightening statistic, but I don’t expect to see a significant problem for a while. In my opinion, as Artificial Intelligence advances, humans will have to work smarter and leave the low-level tasks for the machines as has happened many times in the past.
Sources:
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-65102150
https://www.cnbc.com/2023/03/28/ai-automation-could-impact-300-million-jobs-heres-which-ones.html
You know I’ve always heard about the “machines taking our jobs” thing and it’s always confused me. Because like isn’t that great? Machines can do our work, we are free to explore new opportunities, we don’t need someone to spend their life putting numbers in a spreadsheet. Not to get political, but it is political, it is the distribution of wealth and power that makes this an issue. Because such a concentrated group claim to own these means of production, they control the entire output, and can manipulate that for further profit. There is no shortage of resources because machines take our jobs, what happens when machines take our job is we lose the collective power that human workers just narrowly hold onto in our current markets.
As someone who is planning to pursue a degree in law, this news is rather concerning to me. I don’t like to think that eventually my job and my agency as a participant in the field of law will be nonexistent. However, I like you points about how AI technology like Chat GPT is a resource to explain unfamiliar topics, but does not have the personal flair of a human writer. This is reassuring to me, as I am definitely afraid of AI eventually gaining consciousness akin to human consciousness.