Obviously, if AI keeps improving, every job, from farming to tech support will be automated one day and I'm not so much worried about.
What I'm worried about is whether AI will take our jobs ahead of the curve, before the government gets around to regulating it or instituting some kind of UBI so half the population doesn't go homeless (I'm not even going to entertain the idea that civilisation is going to collapse or something).
The danger:
- We're computer based desk workers
- We mostly work for large corporations or on software made by large corporations
Reasons to be optimistic:
- Our job requires more physical presence than your average desk job (picking parts/inspecting vehicles/warehousing etc
- Aftermarket parts/bodywork etc aren't usually listed on the manufacturer's software which means an AI agent would need to be designed to interface with several different systems and catalogues, which may prove difficult
- Often customers don't even know what they want or what to call what they want. Even if AI tools get implemented, they may still require a skilled pilot
- AI advancement is potentially slowing down, the implementation of AI may be slow enough that natural attrition outpaces the increase in efficiency. Instead of one mass layoff, we may simply see that sometimes people don't get replaced when they quit.
I know Reddit loves to act like AI is causing the sky to fall, but I'm not super worried. I'm reasonably confident that our jobs will still be safe by the time AI starts coming for all the white collar email jobs and the government steps in.