AI: The Rising Tide
Hmmm, is yourjob about to sink beneath the rising AI tide?
Oh, how I longfor the good old days when we only had to worry about being replaced by amachine or a computer. Now we have to add Generative Artificial Intelligence(AI) to the list of threats to our job security.
In my case, itis 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 tofinish my working career despite the non-human entities trying to supplant me.
Before I delvedeeper 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 thereis 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 onthat point.
If you are stillin the workforce, the news is not good. An article I just read reported that ina survey of 3,000 managers: a) 65% admitted that they would be happy to replaceemployees with AI tools if the work was comparable b) nearly 70% said it wouldbenefit their business financially if they were able to replace employees withAI tools.
These arealarming statistics. If you are wondering if your job is at risk, the roles thatsupposedly could be replaced with AI include: web development, financialadvisor, sales, public relations, human resources, graphic designers, marketing,administrative.
How ironic thatweb 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 thepeople around you obsolete.
The ethical questionof whether we should allow machines, computers and AI to replace real, talkingand 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, weshould as soon as humanly (pun intended) possible. How the displacedworkers will earn a living seems to be relegated to the not my problem category.
An equally frighteningconsideration is how the cyber crime underground community must be salivatingat the prospects. Imagine the dollar figure a ransomware pirate could demand oncehis or her program locks out the AI program that a worker-free company is now relyingon. I am thinking six figures at a minimum. Add a few zeros for Fortune 500 companies.
Generative AIis a rising tide that arguably has no banks to contain it. If you are thinkingof retiring early, now might be a good time before the shrinking island you areon 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 Untilthe Deep Water Stills – An Internet-enhanced Novel which was a double winner inthe Reader Views Literary Awards 2009. Visit Michael’s website at www.mdyetmetaphor.com .
~ Subscribe to Michael’s Metaphors of Life Journal aka That Make Me GoHmmm at its’ internet home www.mdyetmetaphor.com/blog2 . Instructions forsubscribing are provided in the Subscribe to this Blog: How To instructionspage in the right sidebar. Ifyou’re reading this post on another social networking site, come back regularlyto my page for postings once
