As AI continues to advance and continues to develop into something much less artificial and far more… real. People are becoming increasingly worried about the future of their jobs and just where AI will fit amongst our modern society.

You’d be hard pressed to not have seen the total mayhem an Artificial Chatbot has caused on the news recently; university courses have suddenly been smashed into total smithereens and little Steven’s primary school homework is now plagiarism personified. Nobody knows who, or more so even what, has written anything anymore! But fears have spread further than just copywriting and text...

Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer, commonly called ChatGPT, is a chatbot launched by Open AI in November 2022. It is built on top of OpenAI's GPT-3 family of large language models and is fine-tuned with both supervised and reinforcement learning techniques. Ultimately, it works as a transformer - or a machine learning model - that processes and understands sequential data, such as natural language text. It works much like the human brain, using interconnected 'neurons' that can learn to identify patterns in data and make predictions about what should come next.

Its recent release has made access to its use much easier to the general surfer, and it has been met with one of two responses. Fear or fascination. This new digital development also has people in all types of work slightly nervous. Whether that be in manufacturing, graphic design, bookkeeping or even customer services the list is endless… It’s flexibility and varied means of application makes Artificial Intelligence a Master as well as a Jack of All Trades, apparently.

If we are to build our judgements on the doomsday media coverage and our experience with “I. Robot”, our fleshy brains are going to be kicked curb side in no time. But will robots and algorithms really replace us all? Will we really be relegated to a life of leisure and relaxation while machines do all the work?

Interestingly, The Future of JobsReport 2020 published by The World Economic Forum, states the incorporation of AI within work has been taking place long before this Chatbot took over the headlines. Since 2000, robots and automation systems have slowly been phasing out many manufacturing jobs — 1.7 million of them in total. Quite a substantial figure, especially when you think about how many individuals did each of those jobs.  But that level of displacement and change doesn’t happen instantaneously, and as one article pointed out, “it’s predicted that AI will in fact create 97 million new jobs by 2025.” This could take the form of a brand-new sector, beyond the likes of Tertiary and Quaternary, which maybe difficult to comprehend but still another side of the unseen coin, nonetheless.

AI is, and will continue to replace some jobs, as it has been doing previously before its newfound spotlight. Workers in industries ranging from healthcare to agriculture and industrial sectors can all expect to see further disruptions in hiring due to AI. But demand for workers, especially in robotics and software engineering, are expected to rise. Which in turn will bring very exciting societal changes and developments with it, they’re just not quite there yet! Think of it as a very slowly ticking position transition.  

Nonetheless, out of curiosity and fear of losing my own job, I asked our friend Mr. Arty Intellectual for his thoughts on the matter and thankfully he had a very reassuring response. Please don’t be disconcerted by his wit and or charm, ability to utilise irony and sarcasm, non-existent human-error, perfect punctuation and incredibly good looks!  

Take it away Arty!

“Well, fear not, my fellow humans! There's still hope for us yet. Here are a few reasons why AI will never completely replace us:

1.       Robots are terrible at office politics: Let's face it, navigating the complex social dynamics of the workplace is tough. Even the most advanced AI can't quite grasp the intricacies of who's in with the boss and who's not.

2.       Machines can't handle office parties: Who will bring the Guacamole to the next potluck if robots are doing all the work? And let's not even get started on karaoke night.

3.       Robots can't tell jokes: Try telling a robot a joke and see if it gets it. Sure, it might be able to spit out a pun or two, but it'll never have that special spark that makes people laugh.

4.       AI can't handle stress: Deadlines, meetings, and project launches are tough on everyone. But robots can't handle the pressure. They'll break down and leave you high and dry in the middle of an important presentation.

5.       Machines can't handle creativity: Sure, AI can generate some pretty amazing artwork and music, but it lacks that special something that comes from the human spirit. Robots may be able to mimic our creativity, but they'll never truly understand it.

So, there you have it, folks. We can rest easy knowing that our jobs are safe (for now). So, let's raise a glass to the future of work, where humans and machines can coexist in harmony.”

Something that DX appreciated to a large extent within Mr. Intellectual’s transcript was the very specific use, and repetition, of collective nouns. Use of this range of vocabulary portrayed a certain warmth and empathy, a real team spirit if you will! Arty obviously didn’t want to over-egg the fact that the ‘Employment Pudding’ would always be shared, and thankfully he made it very clear that there will be enough room for both humans and AI.  

Therefore, if AI does in fact take over there is clearly no need to panic. As it kindly pointed out, we will still have to play imperative roles in the Karaoke, Jokes and Parties sectors. Has anyone got a beer? I’m very stressed and my favourite songs on next…

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