Posted on 03/23/2024 4:33:19 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
The words "intelligence" and "White House" aren't terms we use in the same sentence much lately, but today it's necessary, as the Biden administration's annual Economic Report of the President includes an entire section on artificial intelligence (AI) and the possibility of Americans losing their jobs because of an AI takeover.
The White House released a report Thursday that found roughly 10% of the U.S. workforce is in occupations with a high degree of exposure to artificial intelligence (AI) with lower performance requirements that could leave them more vulnerable to displacement.
According to the report, 20% of American workers are in occupations that have a high level of exposure to AI. About half of them — or 10% of the U.S. workforce — are not only highly exposed to AI but have relatively low performance requirements that could result in their displacement due to AI-powered automation.
Those findings were included in the Biden administration's annual Economic Report of the President prepared by the Council of Economic Advisers and featured a full chapter on AI and its economic impact, some of which focused on AI's impact on the labor force.
The growth of AI has been a matter of concern for some time now.
See Related: They ARE Watching You: Big Companies Using Artificial Intelligence to Monitor Employee Communications
Even WaPo Admits Google's AI Bots Are an Absolute Disaster
Here's where the usual government-speak comes in, though:
The report's findings suggest "the demographic characteristics of workers negatively affected by AI may be somewhat different from those of individuals simply exposed to AI," according to the report.
"For example, many high school graduates lacking four-year degrees have jobs that are highly AI exposed and that have relatively low performance requirements. A similar fraction of college graduates are exposed to AI, but their performance requirements are higher on average, and so they may be at less risk of displacement," the report said.
One suspects it won't be long before some Biden administration spokesdroid comes up with the inevitable "women and minorities hardest hit" line.
Artificial intelligence isn't really "intelligent," and it is hard to see it taking over any occupation where any level of creativity is concerned. A computer program, after all, can only respond to anything as it's programmed to respond; AI, at least as it exists now, is a tool and nothing more. A program is only as good as its programmer, and "garbage in, garbage out" applies. No conceivable AI could take the place of, for instance, animal lab work in the development of medical treatments; the most complex computer models imaginable are still laughably crude - and predictable - when compared with biological systems. One would suspect that applies to plenty of other disciplines, like engineering. As far as lower-skill jobs, like, for example, fast-food workers, then counter workers' jobs may be replaced by automated systems, which could said to be, on some level, AI. It's more appropriate to blame the government's insistence on continually raising the costs associated with employment rather than the development of AI.
Let's face it - it's going to be a long time before AI gets this dangerous - or this cool:
Sure, but can AI threaten to report you to the Department of Labor? I didn’t think so....
RE: but can AI threaten to report you to the Department of Labor?
Wait for the machine to eventually LEARN. That’s coming.
Learn to code?
I think the percentage is a good deal higher. And there are a lot of “cubicle jobs” that have required college degrees in the past — and which may have gone home during COVID. Those “good jobs for skilled workers” are quite suitable for basic AI routines.
It’s not about the machines “waking up”. It’s about machines doing repetitive, mindless tasks. And an awful lot of jobs today basically involve repetitive, mindless tasks.
RE: Learn to code?
Actually, even better is to learn to TEACH the AI software to generate code based on detailed requirements. It’s already doing it in a lot of businesses.
Can we get AI to close the border?
[Does AI feel threatened by the quality of the influx?]
We’ve been talking about this in one form or another for a very long time. Jean Harlow and Marie Dressler discuss the possibilities in the 1933 film Dinner at Eight
Kitty : [Final lines] I was reading a book the other day.
Carlotta : [Nearly trips] Reading a book?
Kitty : Yes. It’s all about civilization or something. A nutty kind of a book. Do you know that the guy says that machinery is going to take the place of every profession?
Carlotta : [Looking her over] Oh, my dear, that’s something you need never worry about.
“...losing their jobs because of an AI takeover....”
I would be more concerned with the ten million illegals somewhere in the US taking jobs and everything else they can get their hands on.
Not if they us Google AI.
I really think that for a long time AI will be a useful tool for a lot of jobs; but it won’t really take them over. You still need a human that is capable of making decisions to run things. AI can crunch data that it’s fed, but it would be extremely foolish to try to allow any AI to actually make decisions.
When the programming finally is able to make decisions based on multiple factors approaching the level of human capabilities, then it’s gonna be game over. Until then, just a tool.
MBA spreadsheet monkeys have been replacing American jobs with artificial intelligence for a long time via the H-1B visa program, which started as a genius visa but ran out of Deepak Einsteins long ago. AI should deport the Kamala Harris meaningless word salad bullshit artists first, but sadly, probably won’t.
Our economy is not ready for this kind of transformation. Universal basic income is not going to work.
“Executives” and “experts with expertise” and investors will discover that AI selects companies in which to invest.
That eliminates the competition. And THAT is what causes the massive job losses.
Have my fill of robots. grrrrrr
Bfl
The most exposed jobs are computer programming, paralegal, accounting, customer service, etc. Even pharmaceutical labs are rushing to incorporate AI systems in their analyses of new drugs.
From my own personal anecdotal experience, I analyze stocks/companies for a personal portfolio using Excel. I write simple code in Visual Basic for Applications for Excel spreadsheets to analyze stock price fluctuation of individual companies against various market indices.
It used to take me days to write some routines. Now I just pose the question (very carefully worded) to certain chatbots and they provide the code that I need instantly. I still have to test and debug the code, but that was required when I was writing the code from scratch.
You see how this would affect the job market.
What once took days now takes an instant. In a large organization, that means a large reduction of workforce.
Good point. Universal basic income is going to take away the very reason people have to get up in the morning. Life without meaning will lead to big trouble.
On a positive note, most young people nowadays are, for the most part, unemployable. Work is about striving and hard knocks and adapting. Young people concerned with personal pronouns, micro-aggressions, and safe spaces will not be useful employees. They will be replaced by AI.
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