THE AI PANDORAS BOX

Not to be a gloom and doom merchant but it’s something that we are all thinking about.

Not since the industrial revolution (1830s and 1840s). This is the generation that is going to see a radical pivotal change in life, work and income.

We are at the start of a new journey, if Chat GPT is the ‘Spinning Jenny’ with steam power and hydro power following on, it changed the dynamics across so many industries. The main difference between the industrial revolution and now, is that it provided thousands of jobs in the new factories and the agricultural sector, providing a better life and income for thousands of people. 

This time it’s going to take away thousands if not millions of jobs from people, we will end up doing piece work (pre-industrial revolution) we will all be working part-time (fractional) for several different employers or we will end up offering our services via our own service company. We will all have gone back in time, scratching and scrapping out a living.

The danger is those that do have well-paid full-time roles will be the winners, it will widen the gap between those with money and wealth and those that don’t, those scrapping a living in a piece meal manner.  Unless you have something, a skill or knowledge that is in demand or something that AI cannot do better, you will be selling those things that others do need, time & effort, manual work.

The danger I see is that we end up with two economies.  Those living and working in the AI world and those that don’t.  Most people will be replaced in some shape or form, so many roles are being replaced by AI systems or functions and let’s face it, they can do it quicker than humans and get it right and do it better than humans.

We see it in science fiction films, where the police are AI Robots managing and controlling the general population, a good example of this is Elysium (2013).  The film takes place on both a ravaged Earth and a luxurious artificial world called Elysium where the rich people live in a luxurious haven floating above the earth. AI Healthcare is denied to the general population, old world drugs and procedures for the many and only the rich and fortunate, those living in the AI world will have access to the best AI healthcare.

One can’t help being concerned about the future that we are passing to our children and grandchildren. Great if they are one of the few fortunate souls that live in the AI world we are creating, but if they aren’t fortunate enough and most won’t be and will be living in the ravaged remains of the old world, the world as we know it today. We see the ravages of war in the Middle East and Ukraine as well as many previous conflicts, many that have been rebuilt over time. But what happens when it’s no longer viable or profitable to rebuild those war-ravaged cities and countries?

We can go a step further and look at the ‘Skynet world’ that the ‘Terminator’ films predicted where AI decided that mankind needed to be dispensed with or films like iRobot that had a prime directive to protect mankind until someone overturned the directive.

It’s a real ‘careful what you wish for’ sentiment, have we opened ‘Pandoras Box’ & can we close the lid, or should we even try? Is this just a natural evolution for mankind that will lead to a better world for all of us or will it be an US and THEM world in the future beyond what it is today. History will provide the answer eventually, but a lot of people and families are going to suffer while the world is remade, a frightening though but a reality I’m afraid.

We need to start thinking about how to manage AI and have a set of directives in place as soon as possible before it destroys our world, cultures and economies.

Comments below – let’s start a discussion