How do you think AI will change things?

[Mountainhowl]

Not an AIBU just the best board I've found for traffic and discussion :)

I'm curious to know where others think AI will take us? How will things change and how do you think governments will deal with the changes?

Will there be mass job losses? Do you think we will get a UBI? What jobs do you think are likely to be safer?

Will life get better or worse?

Do you use any form of AI? I occasionally utilise chat gtp (the free one) for brainstorming ideas and help writing things like blogs for my small business, and I use some of the AI functions available in Photoshop/lightroom for image editing

We are starting to use it in my workplace (a charity) and plan to ramp it up a lot in the new year.

I've been attending conferences on it all year to get up to speed.

For us it will free up a lot of admin time, improve our customer service, improve the services we provide and hopefully lead to an increase in income.

I've been experimenting for a while and finding it great at doing things like meeting notes, spreadsheets, checking policies, writing job descriptions.

It still needs human co-piloting, it's not the magical answer to everything and it's not a horror movie either.

The conversation capabilities on it are amazing. Once we get that into talking assistants like Siri or Alexa, it will be phenomenal.

There's a site that uses open ai as characters (character.ai) where you can have very realistic written conversation.
It's better than talking to a human in some respects. It's focussed on you, agrees, reassures and praises.
I do worry it will replace actual human interaction for some people.

The problem with AI is that it can't feel real human emotions. Therefore our new robot overlords will enslave us and farm us for our tears. However you can avoid this by installing a CAPTCHA device on your front door and asking any visitors to identify crosswalks

I find it worrying and quite scary to be honest. Human interaction is becoming less and less. Many jobs will be obsolete.

It will change everything but like most technology, I expect what will happen will sit somewhere between the extremes of “nothing will change” and “every job will go and humanity will be redundant”.

We are starting to use it at my firm, largely as a time saver, to produce initial drafts and other preliminary documents. I would say take up so far has been widespread and we have a very strict set of parameters and rules. Everything it does is read, checked, amended, by an actual human - it just saves a lot of the initial routine leg work, so something that might take 3-4 hours might now take 2-3.

The idea of it scares me more then climate change. I feel power is being handed over to big tech firms who have a huge influence over how we act and think. Just look at how the Internet has changed so many aspects of our lives, very rarely for the better (my personal opinion!).

Well there is a risk of great harm to humanity.

There's a fair possibility that it actually will kill us all, potentially within the next five years, which is terrifying, but it's an actual possibility and not crazy conspiracy theories.

Tech leaders from across the world, including Elon Musk, wrote to governments in March to request a pause in development.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/waynerash/2023/03/29/tech-leaders-ask-for-pause-in-ai-development/

Of course, it didn't happen, development has sped up (and of course, some of the people who signed that letter are at the forefront of it!)

The biggest risks are spread of misinformation and job losses rather than direct apocalypse scenarios - but that it's all within the realms of possibility if we keep going as we are.

If you're not worried about this then you probably don't really understand what could happen.

@Alalalalalongalalalalalonglonglilong that is a serious concern. You can see the biases in the conversations which obviously reflects the biases of whoever is creating the algorithms.
It'll be so easy to control the masses then. Especially when all libraries close and the only books available are ebooks that could be easily manipulated....my nightmare.

It's going to be a mixture, like most new advances. Some jobs will die, others will expand. I am concerned about its potential for bias and the way it can be used to influence elections, group think and misinformation. At the same time, its being used for good things, from more accurate weather forecasts to better cancer diagnoses.

It's a bit like the advent of the car. That completely reshaped our society, getting rid of horses, ostlers, handcarts, coaching inns and a host of other jobs. It also increased pollution and road deaths (including climate change). And yet, the ability for the average person to travel hundreds miles in a day has changed everything. We can find new jobs, see distant friends and relatives, study anywhere in the country and get anything shipped to us quickly. Police, ambulances, fire and mountain rescue use cars (or ambulances) to save lives.

I think AI will follow a similar trajectory.

The surveillance aspect is worrying though.
Cameras everywhere. Now the nhs is trialling aI in our fridges and kettles.
Which currently is being trialled to check for changes in patients with health needs but we all know where the potential lies.

Imagine all that surveillance in our homes as well as outside being used to control instead of assist. It will be so easy.
1984 anyone?

I’m learning a new programming language. I know several, but need to add another. I use AI to help me with figuring out syntax on specific steps or to direct me to the available techniques. Much of learning a new language is just learning the syntax and available routines. AI often helps, but sometimes it invents things that don’t exist or just gets it completely wrong. Even as a learner, I have to be prepared to spot these quickly. It’s really just a better search engine, not something that can really write code at this point .

We’ve developed lots of technologies but do we work any less? No. We still work the same hours, we are just more productive because we have these tools. So I don’t think AI will result in job losses. It will result in people working the same hours but with greater output.

Apparently until 1900 human knowledge was doubling every 100 years. By 1945 it was doubling every 25 years. By 1982 it was doubling every year. Now it doubles every 12 hours. AI will increase that further still, but more importantly will help us filter the data to discover what’s relevant and important.

Thanks all, some interesting viewpoints!

I've watched a couple of Mo Gawdat interviews/chats on YouTube and they've been quite interesting, I'm on the fence with being worried and interested to see where it goes. The idea of it getting out of our control and the potential for more fake news etc is concerning

I'll believe in AI when it can render a webpage with no ads.

"There's a fair possibility that it actually will kill us all, potentially within the next five years, which is terrifying, but it's an actual possibility and not crazy conspiracy theories."

Don't be ridiculous.

In 100 years, the world will be unrecognizable to us. I think AI will be our next evolutionary step.

I'm wondering if AI will be used more diagnotically, for medicine.
GPs specifically.

111 already uses a triage type system, I could see patients being able to use one, which could automate antibiotic issue, or refer to a doctor etc, cutting down the amount of people GPs have to see.

None of the AI I have used is remotely near ready for public consumption. It lies. It makes shit up, and it's starting to develop some quite snide replies.

Anyone used it to draw cartoons ?

Company I work for are pushing AI training very hard, but most of the management think a pivot table is the height of automation. So based on that I think I will be safe for another few years.

I work in customer service and AI could probably do my job, but the amount of people that tell me they want to speak to an actual human is immense.

Ohh what one is snidey? I've found chat gtp to be quite polite and friendly (but I do say please and thankyou to it 🙈 I want it to remember I was nice when it takes over 😂)

I have received a couple of personal statements on job applications that were written by AI and had a few staff (teachers) submit planning documents and risk assessments done by AI. The risk assessments in particular lack precision. I've also had a lengthy letter of complaint from a staff member written by AI - Very annoying as there were parts that were just irrelevant and incorrect, and the tone was clipped and I person, which made it much harder to respond to.

A colleague has set it up and in the config told it they are an experienced IT professional.

All was well until they queried a rather "imaginative" answer it gave. It started it's response "As an experienced IT professional, you will be aware of ...."

We both read it and both agreed if a flesh and blood colleague had said that, it was passive-aggressive.

The media fascination for AI will be driven back when people start asking it "How should I vote" and the reply is a 3,000 page essay on why the conservatives are crap, Brexit was a shit idea, and GB news would raise it's audience IQ by showing reruns of The Magic Roundabout". Which it doesn't (yet). But give me an hour ....

Signal to Noise ratio.

Already our elected betters are starting to say there's no point in responding to queries as they are "most likely AI". A trend that will only continue. Bad luck if you can't get to see them in person.

I remember the days before the Internet

Look how much the world has changed & not all for good

I think that AI will change the world faster

It may have some good applications eg linked to health & medecine, but there must be a downside too

Terminator