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.

You seem to be rather proving my point. You say you come from nothing, and now have lots - presumably by working? So how would you have achieved that if there were no jobs? Or if the only jobs were below minimum wage, and each one attracting 100s of applicants? And the studies are very small-scale and show mixed results, focussing more on how UBI would work in conjunction with work as opposed to instead of. And they do nothing at all to examine the long-term macroeconomic effects - how can inflation not dwindle it to nothing, especially if some people work alongside and others don't? Plus, where's the money coming from - what will Britain be producing to pay for its citizens, if we're all relying entirely on American tech to run our lives? We don't have enough money now to fund even half our population with enough to live comfortably. How will we find it easier when we produce significantly less? We don't produce enough food, energy, medication etc so we will always have to make enough money to import from other nations (or drastically cut our population). So we will always need to export stuff. But what? If an American AI machine is making everything for us? Or are you expecting Sam Altman to throw us some coins to tide us over?

And you still have no answer for the people in crummy little high-rises in dodgy neighbourhoods. (If it matters, I am not one of them. But I think it is important to consider others, especially those less fortunate.) How do they get out of their crummy flat? Yes, it would definitely be hard now, but I would personally like to see it made easier, not made even more impossible. And there are many ways to make it easier. But UBI is very definitely not one of them, it can only cement people forever in whatever position they find themselves in when the switch comes. Great for you and I, not great for very many others.

As others have said, people were saying the same at the start of the industrial revolution (Luddites). Things have been changing for a couple of hundred years and will continue to change. Just look at all the jobs we have today that simply didn't exist 100 years ago. And all the jobs we had 100 years ago that have all but disappeared.

In the 1980s people were in despair at computers being introduced, especially desktop PCs, and worrying about all the jobs that would disappear. Yes, lots of jobs did disappear, such as typing pools and comptometer operators, but lots of jobs have been created, such as IT consultants, web designers, IT support staff, social media influencers, etc.

To cope with AI, people just need to ensure that they have as many transferrable skills as possible and try not to "Pigeon hole" themselves with too narrow a range of skills and work experience. I would also urge people to consider self employment so that they can move more easily into different working areas when they see opportunities.

What transferable skills?

Critical thought, empathy, compassion, charisma, organisational skills, leadership, teamwork, motivation, good communication, creativity, imagination.

AI is still in its infancy. What you're using now is the equivalent of creaky dial-up internet in the 90s. Didn't take that long to radically improve and for it to transform our lives in ways no one could have predicted.

Er, not sure what the washer women and laundry maids would say about that!

Just an example of how the world is changing:

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/jun/30/microsoft-ai-system-better-doctors-diagnosing-health-conditions-research

It doesn't really matter what the Western capitalists do about AI. That's not going to stop Russia and China developing their own versions, and if we don't have an equivalent AI, they're going to wipe the floor with us.

Critical thought, empathy, compassion, charisma, organisational skills, leadership, teamwork, motivation, good communication, creativity, imagination

All of which will simply be irrelevant when AI develops more and more sophistication.

I find it hard to understand what the new jobs will be. The industrial revolution was (aiui) as much about creating new jobs to use the surplus labour free’ed up by the earlier agricultural revolution. You could look at it as one long process of mechanisation, first of agriculture, and then of industrial production spread over several waves as those new industries were repeatedly made more efficient.

With AI though, I find it much harder to envisage. There’ll be a certain amount of low-value labour, like cleaning the driverless Ubers, and more baristas as former office-workers have to fill their days somewhere – but then what? Won’t AI just do any new jobs too?

The only thing I can definitely foresee is religious etc revivals as new priest classes emerge. But since the woke era was arguably the first wave of that, it’s not a development I’m particularly looking forward to.

The only thing I can definitely foresee is religious etc revivals as new priest classes emerge. But since the woke era was arguably the first wave of that, it’s not a development I’m particularly looking forward to.

Amen.

AI is a tool. Anything you do with it ultimately needs to be shaped by humans.

No, I think at some point it will be shaped by AI. AI is going to far out strip the human brain, very quickly.

Completely underestimating the power of AI.

@Sskka Yes, I agree and I should have made that clear earlier. I meant to say that there is a huge contrast as in there won't be any similarity between the Industrial revolution and AI because there just won't be new jobs created for only humans to do (or enough of them). E.g. are law firms and advertising companies creating new roles because of AI? Not as far as I know.

I can see staff-free coffee shops opening up within the next few years (they probably already have - can't be bothered to google).

I feel the same as you OP.
Mainly because I think it's increasingly difficult to know what is true and what isn't.

YANBU OP it is very scary

If it’s like email it’ll just mean we have more work and have to do everything at a faster pace 😩

Law firms are one of the things that is going to be destroyed by this. I’m an onlooker in a neighbourhood dispute in a personal capacity. One of my neighbours asked ChatGPT how we should approach it. I’m a lawyer by trade, and its answer was pretty much exactly what I would have advised – and not only was it correct on the law, it was also advising on the other side’s motivations, on strategy, etc.

I could only think ‘crikey, the jig is up’. From what I’ve seen there, then were the legal profession not heavily regulated, it would already look like what was said upthread re copywriters. I cannot imagine the public will be happy paying lawyers’ fees once the penny drops.

@Sskka I do completely understand where you’re coming from but I must admit I’ve been using ChatGPT for employment law advice on how to approach an appeal and it’s been amazing. It pointed out things I didn’t consider (and I feel fairly comfortable with HR) so I feel more in control. I would have likely caved in without it. I definitely can’t afford a lawyer to do this for me.

I do agree with you, to some extent - it’s going to take away all of the day-to-day run of the mill advice and “grunt” work. But it’s absolutely not perfect in its current form.

We’ve had several instances of unrepresented claimants submitting witness statements drafted by ChatGPT, and they’re completely awful. Generic, not tailored to the facts, using language the individuals themselves wouldn’t actually use - more akin to formal legal submissions. Virtually incomprehensible.

There have been several high profile examples of AI inventing case law, which (bad) lawyers then relied on at trial.

If we assume there might still be a role for experienced humans in providing certain types of legal advice, how do those human lawyer get experience if they aren’t doing at least some of the routine day to day stuff?

@EdwinaIronside I know, but who’s going to pay to maintain that route to competence? AI couldn’t have done what I’ve just seen even two years ago; today it’s able to give mundane legal advice to a professional standard; in two years’ time you have to assume it’ll be able to do everything bar really boutique or jurisprudential stuff. Then where are we? I can almost imagine the whole sector going over to AI, with boutique/jurisprudence being done in-house or by academics.

@TY78910 I can see both sides but I feel like I should be more devastated than I am tbh (it’s probably because I’m getting a bit one-foot-out-the-door). You get an education learning the principles, years building the technical mechanics, and an entire career acquiring the judgement to respond intuitively – and so you assume you are now in a valuable and respected specialist role that nobody else can do. But no, it turns out your client’s phone is about to be able do your job.

In Ireland the closing of the Magdelan laundries coincided suspiciously closely with the introduction of the washing machine. So basically locking pregnant women up became less profitable. But in other places agree women lost a way they could earn an income working independently around childcare etc. Even if it was tough work

In which case though the law firms will suffer because no way am I paying for work that is done by an AI rather than a junior/senior lawyer
How are time sheets going to work of its all AI? And then the senior partners will worry because you can pay everyone of and replace them with AI but if it takes AI seconds to do the work then people will only want to pay.for those seconds

How does an AI have compassion? Sure one day it might develop consciousness and human empathy but that is.still quite Science Fiction u despite the huge advances
Some of the things on your list are different things to what AI is steaming ahead on now..sure it might develop those skills as it improves..but its a bit like saying "as toasters become better the technology will eventually allow them to double up as vacuum cleaners". In theory you could probably make a toaster vacuum cleaner. But it's not an obvious evolution of the technology.