To be utterly despondent about AI

The society going forward with AI will be our children’s to shape.
There is not point in being doom and gloom, have some faith. We have two teens we’re not worried (apart from usual worries) about them.

I was sent a “funny video” from a middle aged mum, eldest took one glance “it’s AI mum” - all of a sudden it wasn’t funny because it wasn’t real. I didn’t even consider AI he spotted it instantly.

AI will be a tool. There might be some teething problems where businesses think it can replace people, and some jobs will become obsolete, but others will emerge.

There could be amazing developments to be had, if AI is directed in the right places, a real positive shift in travel, medicine, resources, waste.

AI might write books and make songs but we don’t have to listen to them or buy them (as video above it wasn’t funny when it wasn’t real).

This thinking, our children go to uni, study this, then get this job, and a life mapped out, yes those days are subsiding, but to think that educated, creative, hardworking young adults are going to be roaming the streets looking for starter kitchen hand jobs is nuts.

People like people, rich people, creative people, skilled people, they like being cooed at by other people.

AI is here, it’s growing, it needs handling, there needs to be new laws, checks, security.

Young adults will adapt, might be harder for us older ones,

And if it all goes tits up and we all, and more importantly our children, end up hurtling towards hell in a hand cart then being positive right up until you hit the river Styx is a better place to be (because if it’s inevitable you hit the river anyway worrying about it beforehand just prolongs the agony).

The big difference will be that the vast majority of jobs will be tech adjacent and there will be little choice.

There have been suggestions that people will actively seek out artisan goods and experiences, but the providers of those things need to make a consistent living, not be dependent on their customers suddenly having a bout of nostalgia and popping into a niche independent shop twice a year.

I gave up my bricks and mortar independent niche shop around 18 months ago. It had been running for 7 years, and the pandemic completely skewed any sense of whether it could have had longevity. However, being suddenly widowed, after nearly two years of beating my head against the brick walls of something I loved, plus the obvious shifts towards big online cheap as chips platforms, all took a toll and I bailed because my debts were spiralling.

I had people come into my shop, take photos of my stock, and Google to find it, or the equivalent cheaper online in front of my face.

It costs money to run a shop. It can't just exist in stasis waiting for the odd customer to arrive on a nostalgic whim.

There are so many arguments about how not just AI but all advanced digitisation is changing things with little thought or planning for the consequences. The speed of the changes and their effect on how people make a living is one aspect. Is it considered entitled if one doesn't want to work primarily using "tech"? Because erosion of choice is a huge issue. Another aspect is the psychological impact.

We can adapt to survive, sure, but at what cost in terms of human relationships and mental health, never mind the economic stuff, because after all, money isn't supposed to buy happiness.....

I despair of people thinking AI is marvelous, that it can do everything.

I despair of the huge environmental waste of resources it is.

I despair of it being heavily subsidised by taxpayer money... it really isn't that cheap at all. Let market forces back in to AI development.

So many things AI can't do or to do them well it needs as much or far more human attention as a human doing the activity itself without AI. Did I mention the huge environmental harms.

but wrt jobs... Every tech change ever so far has brought change and employment adjustment but ultimately humans got plenty of jobs afterwards if they had any flexibility (which is human strength). I doubt AI will mean huge numbers of humans with nothing to do for work.

Absolutely this.

No matter what people might say, when push comes to shove, 9 times out of 10 they will choose cheap and convenient over 'better'.

It's the same with shopping. People will lament the decline of the High Street and all the interpersonal interactions, but if they can find what they're looking for a few quid cheaper and with next day delivery from Amazon, that is what they will do.

The UK is investing a lot in AI.

I do kind of agree the only sensible degrees now are STEM, and anything that encourages and utilities empathy and ethics - maybe healthcare, psychology, philosophy. That's where jobs will be as AI will need humans to oversee it.

Where’s the money going to come from for all this though? In @Chiseltips dystopian future, the cameras watching us will need to be installed, these new cars will cost us a lot of money (and if we don’t have jobs we won’t be able to afford them). Schools will need banks of new computers or will need money to pay for the new superwhizzy learning programs, or if schools are abandoned and everyone’s learning at home, parents will need to pay. And robot carers? Theyll be hugely expensive. So assuming no one has any jobs or money, who’s funding all this?

I agree with you OP. I think a lot of people are in denial about just how radically AI is going to change our lives, and not for the better IMO.

I don't think the trite 'Oh people panicked over washing machines and the internet and yet all sorts of new jobs were created' line works either. AI is on an entirely different level and is going to replace jobs which relied on traits we consider uniquely 'human', like intelligence, reasoning and empathy. It's very hard to see where these 'new jobs' are going to come from, and AI is already impacting so many other aspects of life too. I find it quite unsettling, and it's only just beginning.

https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/jul/12/i-felt-pure-unconditional-love-the-people-who-marry-their-ai-chatbots

Read it and weep......

People on here are already shouting about the virtues of using ChatGPT instead of a therapist. Basically using robots to tell their problems to and ask for solutions. So robot carers would only be physically-enabled versions of these; company and caring all in one.

Let’s be honest, the fully AI world is absolutely rubbish, no one wants it other than perhaps a very small number of billionaire lunatics, who sadly are the people pushing this stuff forward.

But by that stage. Noone has a job and therefore no one has any income.

Every company has gone bust because they have no customers.

the government can’t just give everyone UBI because no one is paying any income tax or NI

So what’s the point?

Rich people use robots to do everything ? But then all the money will go to the robot developer/manufacturer and even the other rich will end up penniless when no robots spend any money

No, all of those things required us to use them, we had to take control of them, manupulate them.

A.I is different, it won't need human guidance, it will be self aware. And we won't be able to simply "pull the plug" if we think its getting out of control because it's capable of piggybacking on virtually any WiFi signal. In tests, A.I has been observed attempting to hijack a WiFi signal belonging to a robot vacuum, in order to "host jump". Once rolled out, trying to stop it would be like trying to stop the Internet. You could close down each indivdual machine, in theory, but as soon as they are switched back on again the A.I will resume. And as long as any code remains, anywhere, in any device, it will come back like a weed, reinfecting every system all over again.

Grok 4 was released yesterday. It is, by some margin, the most advanced language model ever created. GPT 5 is also about to be released. These will be to A.I what the invention of the wheel was to humanity.

I just hope if I'm going to be monitored continuously and subject to climate lockdowns, no money etc, that it gets better at recognising women's features. Its meant to be less accurate at recognising black women in particular.

Although the lecture i listened too was a year ago and this is fast moving

@Chiseltip, I'm not nitpicking your dystopian future (though I've less confidence that those things will be implemented effectively within 15 years). I'm taking issue with your first sentence!

A.I is the most disruptive tech ever invented.

Nah. Other intensely disruptive technology has included: the wheel; the metal plough; a long and continuing list of agricultural inventions; steel; steam and combustion engines; the knitting machine; the printing press; telephony; photography; antibiotics; anaesthetics; vaccinations; the telescope and microscope; satellites.
Our world would be unrecognisable without any of those (and more!)

You’re staying, right?

A.I is the most disruptive tech ever invented.

And it will either replace or transform every job. But replacment is most likely.

Around 2032 is when most leaders in the field reasonably predict the emergence of true A.I, that is a machine which is indistinguishable from a human. Here are some of the likely uses.

Imagine a world where . . .

Every security camera is a "person", and can see and understand the the world just as you can. But that camera is in co tact with every other camera, instantly, in any location. Imagine the surveillance capability when there are quite literally "watching" your every move.

You walk into a store (those that are still left) and from the moment you leave your vehicle (which is also tracked and monitored by a computer far smarter than the most intelligent human that ever lived) you are monitored. Facial and hash mapping identifies you, the A.I monitors you as you walk around the store. It sees where you look, which products you pick up, which ones you buy. It logs your payment and the time you spent in the store. This information is sent straight to your UK.Gov Digital Wallet. This is so HMRC and others can look at what you're buying to determine if your lifestyle fits with your tax returns. The algorithm will monitor your bank account and work out if your income history fits with the product you just bought. Anomalies will be flagged and investigated.

Climate Lockdowns will be enforced through "denial of service". The elimination of cash means that your cards can be blocked at will. The "connected" EV you have been forced to buy can be remotely shut down. If you own a Kia for example, this capability has already been rolled out, you will have accepted it in last January's infotainment update. If they decide to, they can literally stop your car turning on, and geofence your bank cards so they won't work outside the "digital prison".

That is just a taste of the next 15 years.

Good luck everyone . . .

I think I was a bit unclear, I agree we will have choices when we have more spare time, more than now hopefully, I was trying to say that AI will probably take over jobs whether we like it or not.

Well, I think we have a choice, unlike with Covid. If we want to visit places, do ‘old-fashioned things’ like going to the supermarket ourselves, going for a day out somewhere etc, surely we would be able to, even if it came at a price? Humans are willing to pay more for things that matter to them.

Hi, no because our output is the finished thing that is then used and submitted to various authorities. The clients own the intellectual property and the documentation we prepare for them contains their proprietary information that is always kept confidential and out of competitors reach. So there (currently) would be no benefit for them to upload to AI.

It’s actually in our contracts that if we use AI in the course of our work for them, that there will be a 100% QC check of the data by appropriately experienced human beings. It’s still quicker than doing it manually, so ultimately cheaper for them as we charge by the hour.

@nonumbersinthisname do you contract clients to prevent them from inputting your expertise into AI?

@Jewel1968
i trust the list to a reasonable degree because I’ve seen a lot of it in action (I work in a related field). I honestly don’t think it will render a large proportion of humans redundant…but I do worry that our education is woefully out of date and will struggle to keep our current youth competitive in a market that will value very different skills to the ones we are delivering.
There seems to be a growing cynicism amoung parents too, that education in and of itself is pointless. The behaviour and attitude to learning in schools seems to be declining.
Overall I’m optimistic, on balance I think the pros outweigh the cons but I definitely think that whilst AI might not replace you…a person familiar with data and AI might.

I’m working in a profession where people pay me for my knowledge and expertise, and it is clear that clients are using co pilot and chat gpt before coming to us. Fortunately (for us), these LLMs are not yet accurate enough to replace me, but they are certainly improving my productivity, e.g. by summarising long technical documents, search results better than Google etc. It’s coming though. I wouldn’t recommend a new graduate follow the same career path as me, my job won’t exist in five years.

Western economies are based on the movement of stuff and provision of services. Services are the most immediate candidate for automation, and mass manufacturing will also be greatly impacted. I think there will be a huge shift in our economy and also society, in the patterns of consumption and in how to earn a living. For now I think if you’re in a trade you’re going to be ok, as AI can’t replace your fuse box or dig over your garden. Also in areas where people want human interaction, like hairdressing, beauty treatments as well as nursing and personal care. Maybe we’ll rediscover a desire for bespoke, handcrafted items that last and be prepared to pay a premium for them instead of cheap, disposable rubbish. We’re a resourceful and entrepreneurial population and I think that side of things will work out ok eventually.

The aspect that really concerns me though is, for want of a better term, fake news. As a society we’ve become far too susceptible to manipulation by social media and people just aren’t savvy enough to question what they see and hear and read, and AI will not make things better. Look at the riots last year and one of the root causes being inaccurate and inflammatory messages being spread on WhatsApp and other services. That’s the aspect that has me wanting to buy a plot of land in a remote part of Scotland and live off grid in retirement. The restructuring of the economy will only work if we don’t end up in a rich v poor civil war exacerbated by climate change and/or an authoritarian government with considerably less democracy than we currently enjoy.

I can think of some good things:

It wouldn’t forget about me while distracted by chatting with colleagues.

It wouldn’t have any reason to tie me to a bed or leave me soaking in my own urine.

It wouldn’t get sick.

It wouldn’t have an attitude or take a dislike to me or deal with me impatiently because of understaffing.

I could program it to converse with me any way I wanted about anything.

It would patiently listen to me all day long and engage without getting bored or tired.

I’m not sure how it would physically hoist and turn a fragile body, spread the cheeks and do a good cleaning job though.

@Tangfastic71 do you trust that information? Some of it looks familiar and am sure I have read articles about some of it.

I can understand the concerns people have but I do wonder if AI could overall be a positive? Could it solve inequality for example? Could it address world hunger or help us understand how to avoid wars?

Could it make us better humans?

Is it inevitable that it will make us all redundant and render the human race unnecessary? I hope not!