The Unfortunate Reality Of AI (A Premonition)
"A great civilization cannot be conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within" - William Durant
As time bleeds onward, I am seeing the effects of AI everywhere. Though I can agree that yes, this is pretty darned cool, I wanted to share something that seemed to be a warning sign.
Writers, designers, developers, personal assistants, and everyone, I urge you to hear me out.
I will refer you to the fact that I decided I would learn how AI works, seeing as my 17-year-long career in Marketing Consulting is deteriorating as many post COVID-19 startups slowly run out of money and thus, the job market is nowhere close to where it once was.
This Scares Me
I figured: "Hey, AI is taking my job as a Content Writer, as well as a Designer, and Marketing is becoming automated to the point of indignation, so why not learn how the robots work?" I started a Coursera lesson, and learned how this thing we call "AI" works.
I learned Python, the coding language, and then I realized: "AI can help build AI," and so I went onto ChatGPT, gave a prompt asking it to build a simple CRM system, and to generate the code for me. It took less than 2 minutes before I was able to copy and paste the code into Visual Studio, click a "Run" button, and there it was: an MVP of a CRM system.
As I had instructed ChatGPT to do so. Imagine if I iterated this process for days and days. I would not need a designer, a developer, a writer, or a moderator. I would simply tell the AI to create everything for me. Neat, right?
Now, my first thought was: "COOL!"
And then I recalled what we have all heard at least once since ChatGPT launched, and I quote the Bureau Of Labor Statistics: "...AI will create 58 million new jobs by 2030."
The Harrowing Truth
This is speculative at best, and though there are mixed opinions all across the globe, I have to say that from firsthand experience, this will do one of two things:
1) It will act as the Industrial Revolution did, where new industries were created (though recall the Industrial Revolution was what caused Marx to write "The Communist Manifesto," starting World War II in a nutshell) but there will be a vast period of fright, possibly leading to new jobs.
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Or, and this is what I am afraid of (and you should be, too):
2) Imagine a virus more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. If AI is not regulated properly, and quickly, there will not be a need for creative writers, because ChatGPT is just one of hundreds (if not thousands) of LLMs is learning day-by-day how to write; there will not be a need for designers or artists, as Generative AI (think Adobe FireFly, and even Photoshop) is able to take a prompt and create an image...need I say more?
I will say this out loud, though if you follow The Content Marketer's Diary, you will know this already: I am not the most optimistic person in the world. In fact, that word: "optimism" is not even in my dictionary, and AI spell-checked it, correcting it for me.
And I do not foresee AI needing us at all in our future.
Call it cynical, but I'm often one to predict things far ahead of their advance, much like Napoleon Bonaparte stated: "Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake."
I believe that, within the next three-to-five years, there will be programs capable of automating entire companies, and when that happens, where is the "human" required?
There Is A Future
There is a future, and it is an incredibly uncertain one. All I can say is this: heed my warning, and start learning how these things work. I hope you can convince me otherwise.
I believe we are playing with fire, and that we are never going to stop, and that even as governments swirl around trying to regulate an industry destined to destroy, we need to step back and realize that though there is a strong, optimistic chance that this will be for the greater good, we must also not ignore the fact that with intelligence becoming less artificial day-by-day, it can take us down a very, very dark path. I challenge you to comment with your thoughts. What do you think? Am I too paranoid, or is this something that worries you, too?
Now, back to "coding" my CRM system using the very AI that is taking my clients from me.
Be wary of shiny objects, because we become so distracted that the bigger picture eludes us to the truth. It is shiny, and it is new, but if we aren't careful, "shiny" can destroy the world.
Human Resources Management & Development| Copywriter | Content Strategist
1moNo Ryan, you are not being paranoid. One of your sentences in the above post 'Where is the "human" required?' hit me to the core. Being a writer, I also sensed that the number of projects I used to get are diminishing day-by-day. Moreover, I've observed that people are less inclined to practice creativity than they used to be. They often rely on AI or ChatGPT without hesitation. It seems they've started believing that writing independently or coming up with original ideas is no longer a smart approach. As a manager, this is disappointing. While I may let them continue their work in their preferred way, AI is undoubtedly limiting us humans in many respects. This post has been an eye-opener. Thank you for the nudge!