To be utterly despondent about AI

[AnotherGreyMorning]

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.

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.

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.

Choices dependent on what income we have.

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 . . .

You’re staying, right?

@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!)

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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......

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.....

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).

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.

But you're assuming that AI has already reached its full potential, which is absolutely not true. It's still in its infancy. Around the stage where mobile phones were little bricks which could only call and text, not mini computers which can do everything other than cook your dinner.

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.

I hope you are correct but I genuinely do not see where all these jobs could come from.

As I said above, AI is different from previous challenges in that it has the potential to replace humanity's greatest asset - intelligence. Once automation has taken manual jobs and AI is doing jobs requiring knowledge, what really is left?

And it's not some abstract future thing either. It's already happening.

This is what worries me in my field (women's fiction novels). Human-written books might explore the human condition, teach people more about themselves, give them an insight into other lives. But when so many people are buying to read about explosions and hot sex, AI written dross, which doesn't enlighten anyone but gives them their fix of excitement and attractive men/women, will outsell human creativity ten times over. And it won't cost a penny to produce. Publishers will laugh all the way to the bank, while humans lose the millennia-old ability to tell stories.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uks-best-ai-engineers-can-apply-now-to-build-tech-for-public-services-in-1-million-fellowship

This came up on my Google feed.

Resistance is futile.... lol

All hail our new Meta overlords eh?

Good list, but the difference is that we humans were in control. AI is handing that control to a far more intelligent entity than ourselves. It is fundamentally a different paradigm.

Maybe, but it could also be a kind of paradise, with your every material need met with no need to work, free to pursue your hobbies and interests. You wouldn't even need to cook or clean your own house. All the world's major problems solved by a higher intelligence, with ground-breaking new tech enhancing every aspect of our lives.

The trouble is we can't ensure that future is the one we're walking into. .

I'm not sure how even that utopian idea is possible.

Everyone needs a purpose in life. It doesn't have to be a job, and of course lots of jobs are pretty grim, but for many people work does give their life a structure and a purpose. If AI does away with many/most jobs - and putting aside the question of where people's income is going to come from - how will people spend their free time? Even hobbies and interests might seem superfluous when AI can create beautiful paintings or even make music with a few clicks. Also, the incidental human interactions which are such an important part of life may also become a thing of the past.

I really don't see an optimistic scenario here. I hope I'm wrong.