The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

I’d say current automation is ‘good enough’ for most cases, but you wouldn’t rely on it for translating a contract and it would probably still miss a lot of slang and local dialects.

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#5

Post by ilaksh » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 1:57 PM UTC

Call center workers are going to be hit very hard by AI. Especially if the company can convert a lot of requests to text chat. GPT-4 and even GPT-3.5 can handle almost anything routine related to servicing many types of accounts, especially now with the new function calling.

Also Whisper and especially Eleven Labs can be very good at realistic speech/understanding. Although maybe a bit slow still if waiting for GPT-4.

And I bet Falcon-40b can be tuned to handle a ton of call center (or chat-based customer service) requests.

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#6

Post by charlesabarnes » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 1:58 PM UTC

I'm probably ignorant on this subject, but I find myself surprised by the anecdotes in the article. For example with the voice over actor, for my whole life, speech synthesis has been a thing that has been improving. Did this person think they were going to do this work for the next 20 years?

I don't mean to victim-blame as i really do understand how dreadful this must feel. I just want to understand the mindset and prepare myself mentally for when I see automation coming for my own career

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#7

Post by mcbutterbunz » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 2:50 PM UTC

I have been wondering lately if this is the fate of all content that can be created or expressed digitally. Music, art, movies, books, software could all be created by AI. The only thing “safe” are tangible goods.

I also wonder if this will lead to a dumbing down of certain fields. Why write a book of it never gets published (apart from the enjoyment of it) which leads to fewer writers and a dying art form.

It’s a bleak outlook and likely wrong, but just thinking.

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#8

Post by toss1 » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 3:08 PM UTC

ilaksh wrote: post #5

Call center workers are going to be hit very hard by AI. Especially if the company can convert a lot of requests to text chat. GPT-4 and even GPT-3.5 can handle almost anything routine related to servicing many types of accounts, especially now with the new function calling. Also Whisper and especially Eleven Labs can be very good at realistic speech/understanding. Although maybe a bit slow still if waiting for GPT-4…

Yes. I already use GPT-4 to replace support for a 3D CAD system I use, since it is usually takes a significant time & effort to get through to tech support, and this often provides very good answers (up to 2021).

I think the best solution would be for them to train and implement a version of GPT-4 or similarly capable LLM on all of their documentation and support logs, then keep the live users to handle the issues where the LLM fails and to continue training it on new info.

(But of course, management will likely just dump the people before it is even time, as with the examples in the article, following the ensittification principle of monetization of evertyhing. Seems like that was missed in the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.)

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#9

Post by Simulacra » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 3:10 PM UTC

Key bit of info for the headlining person: "Mr Meadowcroft can't be certain, but he's pretty sure the AI replaced them."

It's possible his employer saw they could use AI and cheaper labor, but not AI alone. AI generated text for publication is not trustworthy at the moment, but it's possible with enough time and input it could be made to be that way. It will depend upon what happens the first time a company puts out something AI written, and intelligent humans find some glaring error and blow a hole in it.

I think translation and voice over is going to be the biggest AI replacers. Audiobooks by AI sound terrible now, but I remember the voice over feature on the first Kindles and it's come a ways.

Re: The workers already replaced by artificial intelligence

#10

Post by SirMaster » Fri, Jun 16, 2023, 4:56 PM UTC

mcbutterbunz wrote: post #7

I have been wondering lately if this is the fate of all content that can be created or expressed digitally. Music, art, movies, books, software could all be created by AI. The only thing “safe” are tangible goods. I also wonder if this will lead to a dumbing down of certain fields. Why write a book of it never gets published (apart from the enjoyment of it) which leads to fewer writers and a dying art form. It’s a bl…

I don't know about you, but I don't have interest in listening to AI generated music, or exclusively AI generated music.

I want to go listen to a real live person perform.

Same for all the other performing arts for that matter.

I think we are really far away from robots controlled by AI performing a live Broadway musical for example.

Heck we are far away from robots singing with the human emotion of a talented singer as far as I have seen.