Artificial Intelligence and The End of Work

[Holdmybeer]

Francis Fukuyama, " The End of History and The Last Man ( 1992)" famously and even more famous, wrongly, predicted Western Liberal Democracy was the endpoint of humanity's sociocultural evolution. Some are now predicting emergent AI and more specifically Artificial General Intelligence or Super Intelligence ( where artificial intelligence is self aware) could be the end of work as we know it. The paradox however being if all cognitive repetitive and manual repetitive work is eliminated in our current tertiary or "service" economy who will be left to support whatever remains. A fully automated factory and a human plumber or electrician or maintenance worker at a data center have one thing in common, someone has to buy what they're producing. Amazon may be the metaphorical canary in this coal mine. The behemoth's most recent round of mass layoffs are directly attributed to AI's emergence in the workplace. Uber currently pays its drivers 75% of it's total revenue. Autonomously driven vehicles, which it is heavily vested in developing, will eliminate drivers from that equation. Autonomously driven trucks are currently operating on the 285 mile stretch of I-45 between Dallas and Houston.

 

[fishslayer]

Did you see Terminator? This wont end well

 

[sanda]

Our society seems to adapt to changes quickly. I remember in the early 70's when computers became mainstream it was reported that 1 computer would take the place of 40 secretaries. Most of us thought that would be devastating to our workforce. Those lost jobs ended up being absorbed into other fields of work. I have the same reservations with AI but hope it turns out well.

 

[Trav_lr]

Skynet.....

 

[Scooterfan]

"...in the The End, many will be deceived..." (we were warned centuries ago). I don't know about you, but I've already experienced the deception that AI can deliver...it's crazy! Kinda funny now, but soon it will become scary.

 

[Holdmybeer]

Our society seems to adapt to changes quickly. I remember in the early 70's when computers became mainstream it was reported that 1 computer would take the place of 40 secretaries. Most of us thought that would be devastating to our workforce. Those lost jobs ended up being absorbed into other fields of work. I have the same reservations with AI but hope it turns out well.

Question will be what fields of work will the displaced workers transition to. As Geoffrey Hinton, the pioneer of multi level neural network training of AI warns, this will be different. In economies of scale agriculture gave way to industrialization which in America gave way to service. This seismic shift, if it occurs, won't effect boomers, or likely Gen X, but would Millenials, Gen Z and certainly the Alphas and Betas coming up.

 

[fishslayer]

Our society seems to adapt to changes quickly. I remember in the early 70's when computers became mainstream it was reported that 1 computer would take the place of 40 secretaries. Most of us thought that would be devastating to our workforce. Those lost jobs ended up being absorbed into other fields of work. I have the same reservations with AI but hope it turns out well.

Even tho our population has explode since then, the percentage of working has declined steadily..