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Original poster

To think that AI is taking over jobs far, far, FAR quicker than we anticipated?

233 replies

Themarchoftime · 24/01/2025 10:40

Obviously, am aware of AI's presence for some time. But I'm shocked how AI features seem to be on all platforms now, email/web etc, and how many roles are being diminished by the use. It seems week on week it's progressively spreading.

Someone who works with AI suggested to me that it's happening so much quicker than anyone expected, that we could all be looking at no jobs across many sectors in 10-12 years.

This has totally depressed me, especially as I'm early fifties, looking to skill up/change roles! And scared me, a bit, also for my kids.

Am i being a catastrophic thinker?

OP posts:
Lentilweaver · 24/01/2025 11:22

I think both my DC have picked the wrong, AI susceptible career. I think things may get very scary.
I hope I am catastrophising
Has anyone read the Harlan Ellison story " I Have no Mouth but I must Scream". It's a terrifying short story about a massive machine that controls the last few humans.

Original poster
Themarchoftime · 24/01/2025 11:19

LaPalmaLlama · 24/01/2025 11:03

In a way, yes, you're catastrophising, because AI can be used to free up resources to pay for other, higher value add roles, especially where those roles are funded by the public purse or by philanthropy. I am a director of a charity where there is potential to use AI to eliminate certain fairly routine tasks, which reduces our overheads in our donor management and HR functions and means we have more to spend on programs. Technology has been eliminating routine tasks (automatic purchase order matching) or manpower (long wall miner machine) for time immemorial. This is just the next stage.

This is positive, thank you

OP posts:
Original poster
Themarchoftime · 24/01/2025 11:18

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 24/01/2025 11:01

I wonder if the speed of adoption might go against AI, in that it might be being used in places where it isn't yet quite up to scratch, causing a backlash.

Apparently AI written books (I'm an author) are pretty terrible. Yet people are producing them and putting them out into the market. I think you'd only need to inadvertently buy a couple of these before you'd swear off ever reading anything AI written again.

I'm an author too...I think there's a lot of people who don't give a shit about badly written books

OP posts:
LaPalmaLlama · 24/01/2025 11:03

In a way, yes, you're catastrophising, because AI can be used to free up resources to pay for other, higher value add roles, especially where those roles are funded by the public purse or by philanthropy. I am a director of a charity where there is potential to use AI to eliminate certain fairly routine tasks, which reduces our overheads in our donor management and HR functions and means we have more to spend on programs. Technology has been eliminating routine tasks (automatic purchase order matching) or manpower (long wall miner machine) for time immemorial. This is just the next stage.

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 24/01/2025 11:01

I wonder if the speed of adoption might go against AI, in that it might be being used in places where it isn't yet quite up to scratch, causing a backlash.

Apparently AI written books (I'm an author) are pretty terrible. Yet people are producing them and putting them out into the market. I think you'd only need to inadvertently buy a couple of these before you'd swear off ever reading anything AI written again.

Iamthewintersale · 24/01/2025 10:59

Yup, in customer service type jobs it’s totally taking over. Depends on the job really… if I were a coder or data analyst or similar role, I’d be looking to re-train…

EveryKneeShallBow · 24/01/2025 10:59

It is going to be a massive shift, but like previous “revolutions” will lead to new, different opportunities. I was reading an article that said that AI will reach a point where the data it is trained on will all be AI generated, so humans will be needed to ensure it doesn’t just go off into a bizarre automated world of its own.

ItsJustADream · 24/01/2025 10:58

Yup, it's really scary.
Career advice for teens is going to need an overhaul. Things are going to be completely different in the next 5-10 years. I feel that government and schools won't keep up

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