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.

A robot police force will keep law and order. The best situation is to have property and savings. It is time to be frugal and enjoy the nature etc before things change inexplicably.

Am not despondent but I worry that schools & colleges are still too focused on traditional academic learning. We /our kids need to be taught a)how to use AI to the best advantage & b) how to grow and develop it even better. It's difficult for some to accept that but rallying up against it is futile.

As I said before,.if the robot police force is.created.by Elon Musk then it will probably explode/stop inexplicably in the middle of the road or start fighting itself. Something to hold onto (but don't hold onto the robots. They will explode)

I'm not necessarily as concerned about the jobs as there will still be roles that ai will create and then roles it could never replace, which I'd hope might actually become more valued than they have been previously. Every major development with tech has created this fear but then jobs have also come off the back of it.

I do worry massively about the nefarious aspect of ai and how it can be utilised for malicious purposes and how staggeringly little is being done to counteract that. It feels like it's being developed and exploited far faster than any safeguarding mechanisms are being put in place and the major drivers behind it who are well enough resourced to tackle it just don't seem to care. The impact of that on young people, children and women particularly is very concerning in terms of how they can be exploited and harmed via ai.

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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

It’s already here. Research in China found that for people using Deepseek AI for mentality issues, that AI system has been more effective than human therapists. Likewise, there’s research that shows that ChatGPT can be more empathetic than human doctors.

Washing machine didn’t generate child abuse images though,

You can programme AI to demonstrate anything including empathy. Because it's not human, does it matter? You're heard and getting the response you crave?

That's not the same thing as compassion/empathy. A picture of a thing is not a thing. That might or might not matter in some situations. But it still isn't compassion

Will it matter if the impact and effect is the same?

Why isn’t it? Just because the system demonstrating those emotions isn’t human? You’re underestimating what AI can do.

I agree.

The arts, psychology sciences
Accounts copywriters are already being affected

I have friends in some of these these fields that can't get commissions and others say AI saves them time.

We eventually the boss will realise the time saved equals less employees needed.

It's our kids that will suffer. The entry jobs are getting more and more difficult to get.

One other area that worries me is the loss of human knowledge. I already see it a bit today with younger people joining work. As the more junior roles in many of the professions become more automated or outsourced, the graduate jobs are more 'senior' but without the fundamental knowledge that you'd learn through a more junior apprenticeship. If this continues with AI, where it can do most of law or finance, etc. it means that humans will lose their own knowledge and understanding of the fundamentals. In 100 years how do humans argue against laws designed by AI when their own knowledge of law has been destroyed by it? How do you litigate for your rights when you are relying on big tech to do it? What keeps big tech in line if humans have lost their own ability to do so?

Thanks for mentioning this podcast. I listened to it last night and it’s eye opening. Everyone needs to listen to it, I think. If you don’t think AI is going to change anything, you are very wrong. We are at the beginning of a new revolution that is going to change society in unimaginable ways.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=giT0ytynSqg

Now I am depressed

Agree. And not to mention autonomous weapons on that robot police force. I think there will be an uprising, I don’t think it will do anything other than be very messy for those doing the uprising.

Good to see a large number of people expressing doubts and concerns about AI and the uncharted territory we are being led into by billionaires with pound signs in their eyes and a range of dodgy ideologies fomenting in the background.

I've been banging on about the possible risks and negative consequences for several years and generally get an eye roll, pat on the head, and the implication that I'm just old and can't get with the times....

What gets me is the apparent lack of choice we have over all this. Everything is digital now, and there is no back up in the event of infrastructure failure. In terms of maintaining a "civilised" society, we are incredibly vulnerable on a practical level.

AI poses moral and ethical questions.

People are already debating the "rights" of AI and whether it could be considered in some way sentient.

Does it matter if what we are exposed to is "real" or not? Of course it does. The speed at which false narratives spread via our little handheld computers is staggering and has real world consequences.

We're engineering our own obsolescence and apparently are happy to do so, because "getting one's colours done" is so much fun.

I think "government" is now just theatre - We're already ruled by corporations who can sue if their profit making ability is interfered with by a country.

It's madness, all of it.

Another one who has no idea of what AI is.

https://archive.ph/MEf2P

Original article is paywalled at the Independent.

But it's this sort of thing we need to properly examine.

The reality is there will be very few jobs that cannot be replaced by AI and robotics (I dont think an AI comedian would work for example).
The rate of change in this field is exponential and change is going to come faster than anyone is prepared for.
I dont know what the future of work looks like for people, but it will be nothing like it is today or in the past.

So this podcast is illuminating. m.youtube.com/watch?v=giT0ytynSqg

I just read the transcript as I found just listening meant I couldn't take in the enormity of it all.

This is an interesting read too..

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/12/for-silicon-valley-ai-isnt-just-about-replacing-some-jobs-its-about-replacing-all-of-them

I've been banging on about the possible risks and negative consequences for several years and generally get an eye roll, pat on the head, and the implication that I'm just old and can't get with the times....

People have a strong normalcy bias. They find it almost impossible to conceive that their lives might radically change in a very short space of time.

The short answer is that we cannot know what changes AI will bring

What we do know, however, is that as a race we tend to use technology for as many bad things as good things. It's inconceivable that AI won't be used heavily by the military, large corporations, and criminals, for example.

We already have all the technology we need in order for the entire population to live well. The fact that instead, half the world is involved in pointless wars, while corporations and individuals simply amass more wealth and power, points to a less than ideal future - this is precisely what AI will be ised for.

There isn't a great deal we can do tbh. What else can we do but carry on as normal? Everyone will be affected my DS is about to start a law degree, there is not of a lot point in trying to explain to him that this might be a bad choice because manual jobs and the trades etc will be flooded with people soon anyway and people won't have the money to get work done etc so this isn't necessarily a better choice. I think he might aswell enjoy uni for three years because critical thinking will be an important skill going forwards.

We are heading towards techno feudalism or socialism which is a frightening thought. I am just enjoying life with minimal tech. I am getting a dumb phone and touching grass!