Hmmm, is your job about to sink beneath the rising AI tide?
Oh, how I long for the good old days when we only had to worry about being replaced by a machine or a computer. Now we have to add Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) to the list of threats to our job security.
In my case, it is not an issue any longer as I will be officially retired as of March 31st. I was able to hold onto my job and the salary it brings with it long enough to finish my working career despite the non-human entities trying to supplant me.
Before I delve deeper into this issue, let me state that I have an issue with the term itself. It falls into the same category as vegetarian lasagna. My point of view: If there is no meat in it, you cannot call it lasagna. Similarly, if it is artificial, you cannot call it intelligence. The experts will no doubt disagree with me on that point.
If you are still in the workforce, the news is not good. An article I just read reported that in a survey of 3,000 managers: a) 65% admitted that they would be happy to replace employees with AI tools if the work was comparable b) nearly 70% said it would benefit their business financially if they were able to replace employees with AI tools.
These are alarming statistics. If you are wondering if your job is at risk, the roles that supposedly could be replaced with AI include: web development, financial advisor, sales, public relations, human resources, graphic designers, marketing, administrative.
How ironic that web development is on the list. If you are working in that particular field, the job description for the person in the next cubicle may well be: Make the people around you obsolete.
The ethical question of whether we should allow machines, computers and AI to replace real, talking and breathing human beings would appear to be on the brink of becoming mute. The replacement value system is along the lines of: Because we can, we should as soon as humanly (pun intended) possible. How the displaced workers will earn a living seems to be relegated to the not my problem category.
An equally frightening consideration is how the cyber crime underground community must be salivating at the prospects. Imagine the dollar figure a ransomware pirate could demand once his or her program locks out the AI program that a worker-free company is now relying on. I am thinking six figures at a minimum. Add a few zeros for Fortune 500 companies.
Generative AI is a rising tide that arguably has no banks to contain it. If you are thinking of retiring early, now might be a good time before the shrinking island you are on slips beneath the tide for good.
~ Now Available Online from Amazon, Chapters Indigo or Barnes & Noble: Hunting Muskie, Rites of Passage – Stories by Michael Robert Dyet
~ Michael Robert Dyet is also the author of Until the Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner in the Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
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Tags: AI · artificial intelligence · metaphor · Michael Robert DyetNo Comments