I’m on the fence about A.I. It can solve a whole host of problems. It can introduce a whole host of problems. It can arguably ‘create’ whole new worlds. Or not.
A.I. is still in its infancy. Nobody can predict with certainty the destination for this rollercoaster. It will surely be disruptive for many industries. Job sectors you may never think of will be and already are being affected. From customer service to I.T., even on a physical level. Warehousing solutions exist that eliminate the need for human forklift drivers or truck loaders. They work around the clock, for no cost beyond implementation and occasional maintenance. I’ve seen this before.
Growing up in Yorkshire in the 70’s I watched huge communities of proud coal miners transformed into… whatever they could do to put food on the table. Man mountains used to sweat and pain and grime reduced to digging winter coal by hand from the frozen ground with picks and shovels. I did that, too, right alongside them, one sack at a time to carry home on sore backs and watch our families faces in the flickering firelight knowing we had kept them safe for one more day. Those stories did not make TV news. I digress.
Despite my dare I say it impressive technical background and history of creating creative solutions to any number of unique situations, I currently pay the bills working a production line. Because A.I. can’t yet pick parts from a conveyor, put them in a box, add a label, and load it on a skid. That? That’s next month. Literally. The robot was installed last month and our job now is to help iron out the programming bugs so it can work 24/7. Without humans. Without us. A.I. for the win, right?
I grew up learning the history of the Luddites. At the same time, personal computers were hitting the market for the first time. I recall playing my first flight sim on a Sinclair Spectrum. A simple tilting blue and green line to indicate the horizon line, and we thought it wonderful. The wave of the future. Now, I begin to understand how those Luddites felt. But you can’t hit A.I with a hammer, or throw a spanner (or a clog) in the works. If you did, a robot would pick it out and keep going. A.I. is, above all, relentless. It gets the job done. It is an alligator the wise will not turn their backs on.
Which is both a good and a bad thing. In a Utopian world we would be care free and let the robots do it all. But that requires a world without mortgages or rent or groceries. I’m on the fence.
