“Your scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, they didn’t stop to think if they should.”
— Ian Malcolm, Jurassic Park
OpenAI, the people who brought you ChatGPT, teamed up with the University of Pennsylvania recently to study the effects and possible fallout of the implementation of AI in the American workplace. Their findings were not good. Well, not good if you happen to be a person who depends on a job for the money you need to feed your family, buy clothes, and keep a roof over your head. On the other hand, if you are a one-percenter or someone who aspires to live off of government largesse for the rest of your life, the news is either ho-hum or excellent.
Researchers discovered that for many jobs, 15% of all tasks done by humans could be completed faster and with the same level of quality by AI. According to a report in The Daily Mail, white-collar jobs are at the highest risk. For now. But trust me, I’ve seen the videos. If you are in the trades, it won’t be too long before you could get a robot “helper” that eventually becomes your robot replacement.
Related: Los Angeles Times Columnist: AI Deserves Human Rights
The study listed the jobs that would be endangered by AI. Leading the list in terms of percentage of exposure were mathematicians, tax preparers, accountants, auditors, financial analysts, legal secretaries, journalists, reporters, and writers and authors. Actually, many writers I have met over the years have been just this side of broke, anyway, so that’s no surprise. But web designers also made the list. So much for learning to code, I suppose. Although search marketing researchers and graphic designers are relatively safe by comparison. Investment fund and financial managers are not in the woods. But if you lose your job to AI, you won’t have much to invest. Insurance appraisers who investigate auto accident damage can also breathe easy. Dishwashers, barbers, electricians, lawyers, and astronomers are currently out of danger.
In an ironic twist, one of the threatened jobs is that of climate change policy analyst. So there is some rough justice for you. All of those alarmists could soon be replaced by an algorithm. If they haven’t been, already.
The above is by no means an exhaustive list, and you can see the full list with the percentages of exposure below.
Graphic: The Daily Mail
If you find your job on the threatened and endangered species list, don’t worry! Despite the ominous warning, The Daily Mail says that Sam Altman, who is the CEO of OpenAI, has stated in the past that ChatGPT “should be viewed as a tool, not a replacement for the human worker.” But this latest research produced results similar to those of a Princeton study that put 20 professions at risk from AI, including teachers, telemarketers, school psychologists, and even judges.
Many of us chuckled a little bit when fast food began terminating counter jobs for the automated kiosk in the lobby. We figured that was what demanding a $15/hour minimum wage got someone. We called that karma. But did we really think it would stop there?
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