16 Comments
May 12, 2023Liked by Charlie Brown

QR codes, which aren't even a little bit AI, have already reduced the number of service staff needed. Wendy's has said they'll start using a bot for drive through orders, which makes sense, it's surprising that's not already been widely adopted.

Some global IT companies have suspended all recruitment, while they figure out what jobs will or won't still be needed.

Call centres are already largely replaced by online bots, which just got a whole lot better. Although there are still millions of service support roles around the world, real people, those numbers will continue to fall.

Meanwhile, white collar workers are already taking up these tools, which can do their job, and better, within minutes, not hours, or produce vast research that would take a person days or weeks.

Specialist AI tools are being rolled out daily. Individuals can even create their own.

The road has already been crossed, at speed.

China already has AI that can monitor their population and assign or deduct social points, and destroy lives. They don't need AI tools from the West. Russia is no doubt also building their own.

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I agree, I think in some parts of the world and in some sectors / large corporate companies it's definitely a thing. And you're right, the road has already been crossed at speed. Too much speed, IMO which is why I would love it if people would take a beat before running with it. Thanks for your comments - definitely food for thought.

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I am daily reading about people who are daily using the tools, for their day job, or for their Substack, or both, or to generate a weekly meal plan for a picky family and generate the associated shopping list, or to design a kitchen renovation. Online paid educational coaching services for children have seem up to 50 percent drops in subscribers, their businesses will be gone at a velocity they can't yet grasp.

I only raise these points and examples because these are ordinary people, like me, not IT workers, who are in a whole other class of AI users, super users.

I don't know what job displacement will look like in five years time, but the convulsions are real, they've already started, with no robots needed.

As the Chinese curse goes: may you live in interesting times.

Well, we are. This is it. 😳

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I absolutely love this. Thank you for the very welcome dose of common sense. The tech bro's are busily hyping AI in the same way that NFTs were apparently going to change the world. I think all of us, tech bro's included could do with a bit more offline time and a bit more real life.

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Thanks Louise! A bit of offline time never hurt anyone, IMO

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I like your comparison to NFT. I find it to be something similar to the current AI ads. And you're right, we need to spend more time with our loved ones and get outdoors.

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May 13, 2023Liked by Charlie Brown

What beautiful pictures you took. It makes me want to visit the same places as you. I agree with you, why waste your nerve cells and worry about AI.

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Thank you Sabrina, Croatia is indeed a beautiful place!

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The best and most reasonable words I read about the matter. Full of a childish simplistic enthusiasm… about a colour old b&w photograph (wow, it turns them into life) and the like. Really fed up about all that. Thanks for that serene reflections and landscapes

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May 13, 2023Liked by Charlie Brown

Beautifully put, George.🧡

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Thanks, Sabrina

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May 21, 2023Liked by Charlie Brown

I'll admit I've fallen for some of the hype. To my mind the main concern is on the input side, not the output side. With chatbots pulling in art and writing from everyone, copyrights and patents become meaningless. But this may be a moot point since copyrights have never been meant to protect creators or encourage innovation. Creators are protected by forming a business relationship with a publisher or seller, who has the resources and motivation to protect the IP through licensing. Licensing is independent of copyrights.

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You've got a good point there, and yes I agree, there is definitely an ethical question around where AI gets its information from.

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Good article. BUT. Why do humans work so hard to create robots / machines to do jobs humans can. Today's generation don't want to work unless it's a computer. They have it easy & getting lazy

Walmart....We the customer have to check out & bag our merchandise BUT don't get paid for doing a job. All I see is paid employees looking at their phones, assisting here & there, stock people not doing their job which I do occasionally as a customer. Yep am 73. Shaking gead 😃😁

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