Page 11 | To be utterly despondent about AI

AnotherGreyMorning · 2025-07-06T12:41:24+00:00

and our future? Jobs becoming obsolete. People unable to earn a living. Villains harnessing for their own ends. It will all move far too fast and at sophisticated levels for even the most dedicated to manage. Governments will be stunned by it. People will really suffer. I just feel quiet dread because whilst life will be great for the wealthy and those who are protected, for the vast majority, I think it will be hellish.

Sskka · 08/07/2025 12:00

The idea of teenage kids being super-pumped and self-motivated enough to engage with official school IT seems fanciful to say the least, no matter how exciting the AI makes it. Surely they’ll be back on their phones within five minutes.

Bluebellwood129 · 08/07/2025 12:09

LaurieFairyCake · 08/07/2025 11:34

The teaching one is interesting and frankly terrifying. At the moment anyone who knows anything about state secondaries knows that teaching is really about crowd control. The teachers main job is to get everyone able to focus on learning in whatever way that means to them.

I say that because of differentiation. In any 32 person classroom you will have at least 5% not able to learn that day. They won’t have eaten breakfast, they will have additional needs, they will have had a family emergency, they will have been bullied on the way to school, and endless other combinations.

Whatever that is it means not able to learn.

What will happen with AI is that it will force them to learn. Sure by encouragement initially but when that doesn’t happen it will force them with an increasingly nightmarish list of detention/social exclusion/probably ending up with them strapped into a chair.

don’t think that won’t happen, there are people NOW on Mumsnet that think that’s an ok thing to do.

resistance is futile

And if you think that’s won’t happen then actually you need humans there, to intervene pastorally. To take account of how a kid actually IS that day.

But it’s far cheaper to force them and we always go for the cheapest option. 🤦‍♀️ Because we’re fucking stupid.

Of course it will happen - in state schools at least - because it will save costs.

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 12:36

Chiseltip · 08/07/2025 08:13

sales people

Ever bought anything online?

Went to a fast food restaurant and used the kiosk?

Your sales people aren't needed.

accounts

Within five years, A.I, won't be making any mistakes. That one person needs to start looking for another job.

manual work

Some sectors will be resilient, some won't, probably 50% of manual labour will be lost to A.I. that's a lot of jobs.

HR

Very few companies will need anything like a HR department as we know it today. Most companies won't have very many employees. Take your local supermarket, that will be a place you go to for collection of your online order. You won't be able to walk inside, just wait for an A.I powered bot to bring your shopping to your car. Inside will just be a hive of robots, moving goods, managing inventory. No people required.

Cleaners won't be needed because there won't be any employees to use the offices, which won't be needed because there aren't any employees, which means no need for reception, maintenance or the office building itself. The entire operation can be run from a computer.

Three years ago, nobody had heard of GPT or Gemini, not they are replacing jobs. That's how quickly A.I will change things.

Think of it like this. If you have Apple Music, you never have to buy another album again, or store any music physically, your entire "record/CD collection" is stored in your device. So you have every album you want, always with you.

With A.I, you will have every employee you need to run your company, stored in your device. You won't need physical people, staff, you have an expert on every subject, available 247, for free. Why would you need employees . . .

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of course I’ve bought stuff online, haven’t we all? But don’t you think that everything that can be sold online already is? AI is not going to increase that? Meanwhile purple bricks the online estate agent once valued at 1.4 billion sold in 2023 for £1 because guess what, people like using real estate agents.cazoo the online car dealer once valued at 6 billion now worth 5 million and making a loss year on year.

Our clients are wealthy and get a personal service, they expect to be wined and dined for their custom not told to use click and collect, so no, our sales people won’t be losing their jobs anytime soon and certainly not due to AI

75% of our workforce is manual labour. You’re telling me experienced carpenters, electricians, engineers, painters are going to be replaced by AI? The closest we have to a robot is a forklift and an electric saw.

im not denying there will be job losses in some sectors due to AI, but I object to repeatedly being told that AI will do all jobs.

and again back to accounts which has already been pretty streamlined over the past 40 years but you still need human oversight to ensure payments are correct - I know my bosses aren’t going to just trust AI with millions of pounds of payments every year.

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 12:39

ShesTheAlbatross · 08/07/2025 08:33

Why would you need to double check the invoices etc? Do you double check excel’s calculations yourself with a calculator? Do you double check the calculator with a pen and paper? That’s what the equivalent will be - not now, but soon.

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I didn’t say invoices - I said the payments

my bosses won’t trust payments worth millions of pounds each year to AI

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 13:41

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 12:39

I didn’t say invoices - I said the payments

my bosses won’t trust payments worth millions of pounds each year to AI

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Perhaps not now, but that person will when they see how accurate the particular AI system for checking payments is. Then they quickly work out that paying a £50k salary for that person in payroll (which doesn’t include N.I, pension and benefits) isn’t worthwhile compared to the £5k it will cost to maintain that A.I system.

EasternStandard · 08/07/2025 13:58

3oldladiesstuckinalavatory · 08/07/2025 11:18

But why teach the children anything? Their AI overlords won't need them for anything except the grunt work. Their future will be effectively servicing machines.

Until the machines realise that we, humanity, are the problem and we always were. Then we will be erradicataed.

This shit literally keeps me up at night.

This is an awful thought. I hope not.

I already have an issue with any dumbing down of a curriculum let alone this.

tripleginandtonic · 08/07/2025 14:10

rumblegrumble · 08/07/2025 09:31

You don't understand how AI works, do you?! It won't be just an interactive screen, it will be fully immersive. It will be like the best computer games mixed with the best cartoons mixed with the best movies, all tailored exactly to the child's likes, dislikes and personality to keep them fully engaged.

Do you have any experience of children? Have you seen how hard it can be to remove them from their favourite device? It will be like this, but much, much more so. As if the child starts to get tired of one thing, it will notice and switch seamlessly to something else. This will look nothing like a teacher standing in front of a class relating boring facts to bored kids!

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There's saturation points though. And most people like an active mind/body. What you're talking about may well appeal to some ND kids but definitely not most.i remember the big deal with these VR headsets, not seen them take off in schools in the way you think they would.
People learn by doing, as I've said before, being sat on a screen all day just isn't going to happen

tripleginandtonic · 08/07/2025 14:13

Phobiaphobic · 08/07/2025 08:58

People are in for such a shock. It's clear that the general populace is totally unprepared mentally for what's coming.

OK then, so what are you doing about it?

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 14:15

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 13:41

Perhaps not now, but that person will when they see how accurate the particular AI system for checking payments is. Then they quickly work out that paying a £50k salary for that person in payroll (which doesn’t include N.I, pension and benefits) isn’t worthwhile compared to the £5k it will cost to maintain that A.I system.

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I agree some companies will adopt that straight away but many won’t.

40 years ago whilst in my first job the company got its first computers and switch over from doing things manually to computerised overnight.

many of the companies I have worked for since (including current) still do an awful lot of manual paperwork, especially stuff that gets handwritten and then input into the system at a later date.

So no I don’t think AI going to be an overnight thing, or even adopted by all in the next 5/10 years

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 14:24

@Chiseltip
With A.I, you will have every employee you need to run your company, stored in your device. You won't need physical people, staff, you have an expert on every subject, available 247, for free. Why would you need employees . . .

wait what…..you think AI will be available for businesses for free

Londongent · 08/07/2025 14:28

I do agree that people still like the personal touch. But what they also like is things that are cheaper.
Without the need for expensive employees, how are firms with employees going to compete on price with firms that are staffed by AI?
There will obviously be a transition period, but the future is going to look very different.
All maintenance jobs like plumbing and electricians will be able to be replaced by robotics

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 14:37

@happinessischocolate Our clients are wealthy and get a personal service, they expect to be wined and dined for their custom not told to use click and collect, so no, our sales people won’t be losing their jobs anytime soon and certainly not due to AI

Yes, they will. Some of them anyway. Sure, some people will always prefer the face to face schmoozing, but eventually they will be offered a sophisticated AI interface, similarly to what’s going on in teaching, that knows everything about their wants, preferences and history (as much as it can legally know). Some clients will prefer this. No more travelling, no more uncomfortable small talk, no more nights away from their families. Your firm will too, and know that this is a cost effective way to run their sales department (again, for those clients who want it).

sneeziseason · 08/07/2025 14:45

This is getting worse. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/07/technology/ai-job-interviews.html?utmcampaign=likeshopme&utmcontent=ig-nytimes&utmmedium=instagram&utmsource=dash+hudson&fbclid=PAQ0xDSwLZ9NleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp5cIEyGS6EvQGRPs1y6cbDTWrBihTvybbgH6XyZzqwh1MmHapDDoU-eQa1diaema8asA7FbAaI0grv3O-f1Hw

There’s a paywall so I haven’t read the entire article but there are extracts from the article on the NYT instagram page.

Quote from an interviewee ”were you just using me to train the AI agent? Or is there even a job?”

Sums it up really.

GarlicMetre · 08/07/2025 15:20

Archived copy of the NYT article about AI interviews: https://archive.ph/Kzr0e

EasternStandard · 08/07/2025 15:51

Londongent · 08/07/2025 14:28

I do agree that people still like the personal touch. But what they also like is things that are cheaper.
Without the need for expensive employees, how are firms with employees going to compete on price with firms that are staffed by AI?
There will obviously be a transition period, but the future is going to look very different.
All maintenance jobs like plumbing and electricians will be able to be replaced by robotics

I think we should consider jobs when talking about the birthrate now. To link two topics that often aren’t but should be.

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 16:50

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 14:37

@happinessischocolate Our clients are wealthy and get a personal service, they expect to be wined and dined for their custom not told to use click and collect, so no, our sales people won’t be losing their jobs anytime soon and certainly not due to AI

Yes, they will. Some of them anyway. Sure, some people will always prefer the face to face schmoozing, but eventually they will be offered a sophisticated AI interface, similarly to what’s going on in teaching, that knows everything about their wants, preferences and history (as much as it can legally know). Some clients will prefer this. No more travelling, no more uncomfortable small talk, no more nights away from their families. Your firm will too, and know that this is a cost effective way to run their sales department (again, for those clients who want it).

So you think the 100,000+ people who go to Southampton Boat Show (where we get the majority of our leads) each year would rather be at home looking at pictures of boats on their laptop/phone whilst talking to a AI bot ?

or that AI would do a better job of getting leads from the boat show (not sure how AI would sail/drive the boats to the show) than a salesman talking face to face with the prospective client?

🤦‍♀️

Sskka · 08/07/2025 16:52

In fairness this thread probably goes wider than looking at the consequences for one specific company at one specific boat show.

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 16:55

Londongent · 08/07/2025 14:28

I do agree that people still like the personal touch. But what they also like is things that are cheaper.
Without the need for expensive employees, how are firms with employees going to compete on price with firms that are staffed by AI?
There will obviously be a transition period, but the future is going to look very different.
All maintenance jobs like plumbing and electricians will be able to be replaced by robotics

i had my annual boiler service/check done the other day, you think it would have been cheaper for a “robotic” to drive to my house, knock on the door and check the boiler, shower and radiators?

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 16:57

Sskka · 08/07/2025 16:52

In fairness this thread probably goes wider than looking at the consequences for one specific company at one specific boat show.

It does but I have specifically spoken about the company I work for and been told repeatedly that AI will do ALL the jobs 😂

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 17:20

happinessischocolate · 08/07/2025 16:50

So you think the 100,000+ people who go to Southampton Boat Show (where we get the majority of our leads) each year would rather be at home looking at pictures of boats on their laptop/phone whilst talking to a AI bot ?

or that AI would do a better job of getting leads from the boat show (not sure how AI would sail/drive the boats to the show) than a salesman talking face to face with the prospective client?

🤦‍♀️

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Pictures? We’re talking AI - there will be virtual boats that any of those 100,000 people can look at and touch, can shrink or enlarge, from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Much more convenient and cheaper for many than travelling to Southampton.

spoonbillstretford · 08/07/2025 17:22

I'm not upset about AI, it's greed and unfettered capitalism which are the problems.

MistressoftheDarkSide · 08/07/2025 17:30

The erosion of human interaction is extremely worrying.

It's creeping in through so many avenues.

Boundary setting is all well and good in problematic relationships, as is "going NC" in abusive situations but there is an increasing trend to take these things to the extreme, and to be unforgiving of the least perceived transgression. There is a huge lack of trust and even paranoia, an assumption that every interaction may be underpinned by nefarious intent.

In terms of therapy people seem to think that AI is the answer because it's not a "biased" human, yet it is programmed by biased humans and to feedback what a person wants to hear.

At least with a good human therapist there is oversight and accountability, and a choice.

In the article about job interviews, one of the younger interviewees cited a preference for an AI interviewer to avoid the stress of dealing with a human.

Are we really going to be better off psychologically if we simply eliminate "stressful" human contact? What scope then to evolve and grow and learn to navigate the world?

Mumsnet is full of people banging on about resilience and "having to do things we don't want to do", be it in school, the workplace, or the rituals that mark out human life (or death - apparently funeral days are numbered, as they are a money wasting exercise that don't really benefit anyone - people on a couple of other threads have been breathtakingly cold about that). Yet, funnelling every aspect of oneself into a digital repository that appears to agree with your own perspective, with that data, sometimes very personal data, being fed back - where exactly - because it is being fed back - is apparently ok, because it saves us from "each other".

It gets more dystopian / boiling frog at every turn.

Bigcat25 · 08/07/2025 17:35

yakkity · 06/07/2025 13:50

But this is exactly the fears when the Industrial Revolution wiped out so many manual jobs. Yet I’m pretty sure you would agree that child labour in factories was a good thing to move on from.

adapt.

They aren't the same at all, AI is very problematic, and bad for the environment too. Rich people won't be better off than they are now bc a big divide isn't great for society either, you just have to cordoned yourself off more from the riff Raff, which isn't something I would want to do.

LindtLindor · 08/07/2025 17:53

"I understand why [schools] may push AI. For one thing, it's cheaper," he said, although David Game College denies this is a cheaper approach than its traditional teaching, saying it has actually hired more personnel to run the course.

Not actually cheaper in this instance though perhaps it will be in the future.

What can normal people do?

tripleginandtonic · 08/07/2025 17:54

curiositykilledthiscat · 08/07/2025 17:20

Pictures? We’re talking AI - there will be virtual boats that any of those 100,000 people can look at and touch, can shrink or enlarge, from the comfort of their own homes or offices. Much more convenient and cheaper for many than travelling to Southampton.

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How can they touch the boat?