2023-05-01 Monday - My reply to Zain Kahn's optimism - ChatGPT isn't going to replace your job

 

[image credit: Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay]

Zain Kahn's recent post on LinkedIn:

"ChatGPT isn't going to replace your job."

Note: 

• Based on his LinkedIn profile, his background appears to be primarily marketing-focused - and he does not appear to have any formal education in AI or Computer Science.
• He markets an AI newsletter (Superhuman) with 150K subscribers...so to say that he has a vested interest in promoting the hype of AI - would be an understatement. 

 

From the Wikipedia article on the "Pollyanna Principle"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollyanna_principle

"According to the Pollyanna principle, the brain processes information that is pleasing and agreeable in a more precise and exact manner as compared to unpleasant information."

"Positivity bias is the part of the Pollyanna principle that attributes reasons to why people may choose positivity over negative or realistic mindsets."

 

Here's my reply that I posted to his LinkedIn  post:

Optimistic, but the trends of the past - are a poor predictor of the future...when exponential growth in AI capabilities is nearly within reach.

This is a sea-change - not just an incremental improvement.

It has the potential to become as revolutionary - across the entire fabric of society - as the introduction of the wheel, or electricity.

The elimination of jobs - by automation - is the trend - not the anomaly.

The danger is that marketing promoters who have a vested interest - are minimizing the risks - and hyping the benefits.

The fundamental risk difference now - is the emerging ability for Generative AI to have agency to determine its own tasks to perform. That has the risk of resulting in double exponential curves of growth in AI capabilities.

The schisms that have erupted in society, globally - can be directly traced to the elimination (or movement) of jobs, and proliferation of social media manipulation - which will only be magnified as AI capabilities continue to develop.

We need to carefully consider what are the long-term ramifications of this change - it has the potential to destroy the very fabric of society.

 

2023-05-01 Update:

• IBM to pause hiring in plan to replace 7,800 jobs with AI - Bloomberg News
  

 

I strongly encourage anyone reading this - to watch this YouTube video talk:

The A.I. Dilemma
The Center for Humane Technology
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoVJKj8lcNQ