Yes, AI Can Do Your Job, But It's Too Expensive

24 January 2024 | Issue #32

“Overall, our findings suggest that AI job displacement will be substantial, but also gradual—and therefore there is room for [government] policy and retraining to mitigate unemployment impacts,”

According to MIT researchers, this is good news for those of us with jobs that are at risk of being displaced by AI. The theory is that it takes more time/cost to train LLMs to be able to do things like identify a prescription bottle.

This research contradicts a study issued by OpenAI that says, "estimated that 19% of U.S. workers could see 50% of their workplace tasks “impacted” by GPT-4 level systems."

This makes sense. If I'm selling a product, I'm going to play up how great and world-changing it is. Institutions – like big tobacco and the NFL – taught us to be skeptical of company-funded research.

The reality is that none of us know when we'll be impacted by AI. But it is coming. But the question has never been if we'll be displaced. The real question is how are you preparing. Because you have to be prepared for the inevitability.

As for the government setting policies to help workers, tech journalist Kara Swisher said on her podcast, Pivot, that she doesn't think the U.S. government will do anything to slow the advancement of AI. Her reasoning is that we can't lose the AI war to China. If the U.S. over-regulates AI, and other countries are able to innovate unfettered, it's going to lead to a power imbalance on a global level.

NEWS AT THE INTERSECTION OF MARKETING, DESIGN, & AI

👨🏻‍🏫 Companies that use AI to replace workers will ultimately lose, Stanford University professor says

A Stanford professor, shared some insights at the World Economic Forum in Davos, emphasizing that companies should use AI to augment tasks rather than replace them entirely.

The professor argues that completely replacing human workers with AI could backfire for companies, suggesting that a blend of human and AI capabilities is more beneficial.
This perspective is particularly relevant as we see more industries exploring AI-driven automation, raising questions about the future of human jobs in an increasingly AI-integrated world.

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because ...

🤑 The tech sector is pouring billions of dollars into AI. But it keeps laying off humans

The tech industry's current state is quite a mix of progress and challenges. While there's a big push into AI with significant investments, it's happening alongside a wave of job cuts across various roles in tech companies.

Tech giants like Google and Amazon, after investing billions in AI, are also announcing major layoffs, affecting hundreds of workers. This trend isn't just in big companies but also in smaller startups.
The article highlights a broader concern: as AI continues to reshape business, it could lead to more job losses, especially in tech. However, it also notes the potential for AI to create new types of jobs in the future.

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NEW RESOURCES FOR YOU

Is AI Art?

This is a debate that isn't going to end any time soon. Renowned marketer, educator, and writer Mark Schaefer tackled this topic in a recent blog post.

He goes back to the Renaissance to illustrate how one of DaVinci's most famous illustrations was created using a similar process that many of us now use with MidJourney, Dall-E, or other AI image generators.

I won't spoil the article, but it does makes sense. We all learn and create new things based on our inputs. When I was a senior in high school, I gave a presentation that included a slide show (using literal slides) where I walked through different illustrators drawing the X-Men character Wolverine.

Because I was a student of comic book art, I could tell the audience how certain artists were influenced by artists before them. I could draw a straight line of influence from Arthur Adams to Joe Madureira to Roger Cruz. Madureira had learned to draw by ingesting a lot of Adams' art.

The only difference between that and what AI does is the level of effort. This is why it doesn't feel right when someone types a sentence into a website, publishes the end result, and calls themselves an artist.

Artist learn by ingesting the world around them and then expressing it through their unique lens.

But the reality was summed up by @SJSindu on X:

Affiliate of the Week

Each week, I read many articles from many sources. Any time I come across an article that may be interesting to you, I add it to my AD Newsletter note in Notion. Also within this note is where I keep my UTM codes so they're easy to copy/paste into here.

I was a paid subscriber to Evernote for more than ten years. But a few months ago I made the switch to Notion and I wonder why I didn't do it sooner. Now I have my notes and lists, but also project management.