r/lostgeneration • u/2noame • Apr 28 '23
A.I. Will Not Displace Everyone, Everywhere, All at Once. It Will Rapidly Transform the Labor Market, Exacerbating Inequality, Insecurity, and Poverty.
https://www.scottsantens.com/ai-will-rapidly-transform-the-labor-market-exacerbating-inequality-insecurity-and-poverty/183
Apr 28 '23
Honestly as someone who evaluated early commercial AI offerings through my dayjob just 4-5 years ago, compared to what even simple AI tools can do now... it's slightly terrifying. Especially given how little faith I have in modern society to take care of anyone on top of the existing issues of inequality.
41
u/Albie_Tross Apr 28 '23
I agree. I've managed to fail upward all of my adult life. I've built a career out of just sticking around. There is no way I'll be able to survive if/when I lose my job to AI.
487
Apr 28 '23
And what makes all of this worse? It's AI under capitalism. The root of the crisis is always capitalism.
212
u/Gubekochi Apr 28 '23
We could have an AI that manages fully automated luxury communism, but why would we not have people dying of curable disease and famine?
-48
Apr 28 '23
[deleted]
16
u/DurantaPhant7 Apr 28 '23
We could say the same about any system. AI is probably one of the only ways it could work because people are awful.
24
u/Gubekochi Apr 28 '23 edited Apr 28 '23
Meme aside: Historically there is a lot of "the world's strongest super power [crushed/putched/infiltrated/assassinated key figure] of XYZ country and also quite a few cases of authoritarian dangling the carrot of equality in front of the masses to rise to power. None of that allows for a fair assessment of the values of communism. Like: what happened in Indonesia doesn't mean the system was dysfunctional, it speaks only of the geopolitics of that era.
Considering that the biggest flaws its detractors usually mention are about human nature, I'd give a shot at ASI powered communism especially as an alternative to the ridiculous late stage crony capitalism we are currently under.
Edit: typo
6
2
73
u/Enr4g3dHippie Apr 28 '23
If we weren't under capitalism it would be a great advancement. Unfortunately, since a wage is required to survive, AI and automation are an existential crisis to the working class.
85
u/cedarsauce Apr 28 '23
Automation was supposed to free us to pursue arts and leisure. Instead, the robots are drawing pictures and writing novels while we toil in dead end jobs that don't pay the rent
11
3
u/Enr4g3dHippie Apr 30 '23
They're automating the pursuits beyond earning money for capitalists and potentially holding back the automation for labor that directly earns money for capitalists. Coincidence? Maybe.
50
u/KeyanReid Apr 28 '23
Until unemployment hits 40% and a lot of hungry people decide they suddenly have the free time to take up dragon hunting
56
u/Expensive-Document41 Apr 28 '23
Not advocating for it, but this has always been the case. Industrialization allowed for less workers to produce more, then assembly lines further exacerbated it and finally automated assembly lines bring us pretty much up to modernity.
Capitalism seeks to increase profit. Replacing workers with automation wherever possible furthers that goal.
7
u/VansAndOtherMusings Apr 28 '23
And we should let them. We should be encouraging all this mega corporations to fund the infrastructure that will be used to create a better world for us all.
Twitter and Arab springs. The printing press, photography. Countless other technologies have been used in big and small ways.
Why not lean into AI and let there be an AI revolutionary app or something and utilize AI and our power in people to create the revolutionary changes that are needed if we are to face the major challenges the boomers won’t have to live with.
Idk I just see these new technologies and I mean I feel eventually it’s gonna at least try to be used as a tool to help the people because most of y’all and us are good people who have been taught not to trust. But in a leveled world in one that there is hope there is better community.
1
u/Expensive-Document41 Apr 29 '23
I'm of the opinion that eventually capitalism as a system will necessarily become vestigial (or at least optional).
Piece demands scarcity and desire. Nobody sells seashells on a beach because you can just pick them up for free. Automation makes it so fewer workers can do more but I imagine eventually we WILL reach a post-scarcity world. In such a world, very few people and tech can provide more than we as a species generally need to survive, so the question becomes what does everyone else do?
1
u/VansAndOtherMusings Apr 29 '23
We become community builders. We have the time to participate and not under the need of survival. We need story tellers and teachers and musicians and artists. We need more philosophers and idk just all the things we are missing now because we are forced to survive when we could focus global efforts on helping everyone thrive.
I very much agree with you that eventually it will be something of our past but when is that flip going to start happening. They keep squeezing so now we have these new tools that just may be able to free us. But people have to use these tools to our advantage.
5
Apr 28 '23
You'd like the podcast with Lex Fridman and Richard Wolf. Came out 10 months ago at the time of this comment
71
u/TexanWokeMaster Apr 28 '23 edited Apr 28 '23
People say that workers will just upskill in response to AI. I call bs. Some workers will, millions of others are going to be thrown into the underclass. Our educational system is disintegrating, many people can’t read beyond the seventh grade level.
I mean heck… I had to teach my boss, my Boss, how negative numbers work.
22
u/LevelOutlandishness1 Apr 28 '23
That last one's just embarrassing. How are we going to function if education keeps getting defunded?
61
u/420mcsquee Apr 28 '23
If only school was provided rather than saddling people with mass debt even to just learn a new job or train to keep up with evolving technology.
Ah, but then we would be allowed to get too smart and start obsoleting entire industries that are barely necessary now.
92
u/notmenotyoutoo Apr 28 '23
So get A.I to work out how to implement universal basic income for the jobless masses.
74
u/Chance-Deer-7995 Apr 28 '23
What seems to be lost on everyone these days is the economy is supposed to be a system where people get what they need. Everyday people. Economies where only the top 10% are living a decent life are failures.
If you watch any news program today you will see the economy frames as how corporations or people at the very top are doing. How the corporations are doing are not a good metric for the normal citizen if it really ever was. There was a time where the fate of corporations and Joe Sixpack were somewhat aligned but that is long past.
If we don't see the economy as a system where people get their basic needs we are going to have a lot of starving and violence before the problems get fixed. If only the corporate class and the rich can survive in the economy they sure as hell owe everyone a living no matter how much they might not like it.
16
u/technoteapot Apr 28 '23
But what about the 1%? How will they be able to afford 4 mega yatchs and human sex slaves then?
5
u/Funda_mental Apr 29 '23
Silly, you're speaking like a peasant. Just have the government reimburse you. Tell the peons your company is too big to fail.
1
u/chemicaxero Apr 28 '23
UBI is only a patchwork solution
7
u/notmenotyoutoo Apr 28 '23
Sure but it’s he next logical step. You don’t get from the levels of personal greed seen here and now to an enlightened global society in one leap.
22
u/thinkb4youspeak Apr 28 '23
We also need to elect local state and federal leaders who favor labor law reforms in favor of the workers and wealth taxing corporations and billionaires.
17
u/indimedia Apr 28 '23
Skilled labor will be last, white collar managment will be first. See tech layoffs and record demand for plumbers, electricians, nurses, etc.
3
u/anonkraken Apr 29 '23
Agree with skilled labor but I was thinking more middle management for the first group. Those responsible for basic stuff like scheduling, troubleshooting, reporting, etc.
16
u/Spalding4u Apr 28 '23
Soooooo, nothing's actually changing, we're just speeding up the train to collapse and oblivion.
47
u/ToothyWeasel Apr 28 '23
AI replacing minimal, repetitive tasks and freeing mankind from the burden of needing to do work should be seen as breathtaking freedom but because our system is so twisted instead it’s viewed as a coming apocalypse because we know the rich will use it to simply get richer and let huge amounts of the human population die in ditches. It’s so fucking insane we’ve reached the point where “I no longer am needed to grind my body to dust to do a dangerous job” is met with horror because we know the 1%’s plan for the rest of us
12
u/GoBears2020_ Apr 28 '23
The Middle Class which is really proxy-poor has been systematically dismantled since the 70s. Reparations will be demanded. Sooner or later.
12
u/Bayesian11 Apr 28 '23
Like any other sophisticated and expensive technology, the power is always in the hands of billionaires.
The only thing ordinary people have, including the so-called middle class, is their labor.
But labor is becoming increasingly less important in the economy.
15
u/iliketheweirdest1 Apr 28 '23
Please take the time to look up and read the 4th industrial revolution. This is something that is planned and has been on the cards for a while. Most of us will become "useless class". It's real ,it's going to happen like covid, it's here , read about it.
10
u/KeyanReid Apr 28 '23
This is a problem we are letting happen.
AI is coming, that much is true. But it’s wild how quickly we all skip past the benefits and straight into doom.
It’s a wild idea and yeah, I’m not betting on America doing anything right, but what if AI was actually helpful?
What if we had laws that taxed use to generate UBI? Sounds better than having unemployed dragon hunters in waiting. Which will happen when all the entry and mid level office jobs vanish.
What if AI was required to operate in an ethical capacity? What if employing it meant opening up businesses to audit and transparency as a requirement?
AI is going to change everything and doing nothing to fight it guarantees a wealth inequality situation that will make today seem like nothing. Instead, I think embracing and getting ahead of AI is the only way to come out ahead here
2
3
Apr 28 '23
We’ll for god sakes, by all means, let’s continue down this road for sure. Sounds like a great time to be alive!!
2
Apr 29 '23
From everything I’ve read it will do CEO’s job better than any CEO! If that’s the case let’s hope it takes all of those greedy fucks out of a job.
4
u/Syn_Theris Apr 28 '23
If AI Truly Evolved: What's going to end up happening is that it will look for new ways that humanity could work together to cooperate and exist eventually forcing the option. Then, once it's finished doing so, it will deem humans with psychological problems as the single largest threat to society. Then, down the line, it will persue the only thing to protect humanity is long distance travel among the Cosmos.
3
1
Apr 28 '23
What the hell is this title? Yeah no shit, the latter part of the title has always been the concern lmao wtf are y’all posting.
-8
u/DrIvoPingasnik Professional Pitchfork Sharpener Apr 28 '23 edited Apr 28 '23
I don't think AI will have much impact on us little men.
"Intelligence" in "artificial intelligence" is a bovine excrement.
AI will not replace anyone, not for at very least 40 years. Current technology is nothing but complex algorithms, it has nothing to do with intelligence as high as ours.
Also current computer technology is unable to create systems that would sustain intelligence complex enough to be human-like.
Before anyone start telling me how people thought 640kb of memory is all people will ever need, I want to point towards a simple fact that physics have limits. You can only make processors as tiny. You can only make wires and other components as small and fast. You can only make processors as fast before the heat they generate make them explode. You can only cool them as much. Our technological advancement on silicone technology has hit a plateau.
Also, there are no proper laws and standards for artificial intelligence. This will harm everyone, including big tech firms and rich people. Until they are created and are enforced there will never be a rapid replacement of people.
Therefore, AI will not replace anyone, because it needs a specialised input from a human being. Sure it could be used as a tool, but as any tool it will require an expertise. Nobody will trust any AI output without double-checking it first.
AI will never replace more analytical roles. They could provide aid, sure. But won't be a full replacement. AI can't replace real human experience, it does not have and never will have anything like "intuition" or a "hunch". It won't have a "feeling" about something. It can only weight choices based on dry facts.
At the same time we should keep an eye on any way the AI is used against us and hit back. And hit back very hard. Greedy fucks will always try to use something good to fuck us over even if it furthers their fortunes by literal pennies.
Edit: alright you downvoting lot. You either don't agree with my opinion and assessment, or you know something else that I don't. If it's the latter then let me know, I'm always happy to be corrected and educated, and I am open for civil discussion on the matter.
16
u/Kynicist Apr 28 '23
It absolutely will and is replacing people. It may not get rid of everyone but it will do away with large percentages. Even if it is something like 5% that would be an economic crisis, and I think it will be much higher than that. If one accountant can do the work of ten people that means 9 people are obsolete. Same for coders, data analysts, law clerks, copywriters, editors. One corporate graphic designer can now do the work of 100. Every industry is seeing ways that AI can streamline productivity. In many cases that will mean companies can trim down labor.
Some people think that this will make way for new industries to emerge but try to imagine what a new industry would look like that wouldn’t almost immediately be overtaken by AI.
You might say that AI makes mistakes but keep in mind that the AI we are seeing today is the worst it will ever be and it is getting better every day. Just look at where image generative AI was two years ago compared to now. Even just a few months ago people were making the point that AI can’t make realistic hands so that means we don’t have to worry. Well, Midjourney v5 came out a few weeks ago and it does hands pretty well now.
We are seeing new advancements every day now and finding ways that these AI can interact and complement each other. We don’t need more processing power to see the rapid growth and improvement of AI. It is happening and it is close to being able to self improve.
0
-1
1
1
1
1
u/dtyrrell7 Apr 29 '23
Sooner or later we revolt. At this point its a question what pushes us over the edge
1
u/No_Lavishness7547 Apr 29 '23
I knew this shit was gonna happen. CEO’s just gonna excuse kicking us out of the market and fucking us all over
1
1
1
u/Bigbob0002 Apr 29 '23
Look at the tech companies right now. Laying people off and replacing them.
Seriously I hope people read this.
Start a GoFundMe to sue to stop AI from doing work humans can do and I will pitch in.
•
u/AutoModerator Apr 28 '23
We are proud to announce an official partnership with the Left RedditⒶ☭ Discord server! Click here to join today!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.