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The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

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Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#51

Post by darth_avocado »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #22
darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

> If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? All the people employed by the government and blue collar workers? All the entrepreneurs, gig workers, black market workers, etc? It's easy to imagine a world in which there are way less white collar workers and everything else is pretty much the same. It's also easy to imagine a world in which you sell less stuff but your margins increase, and overall you're bett…

> All the people employed by the government and blue collar workers

If people don’t have jobs, government doesn’t have taxes to employ other people. If CEOs are salivating at the thought of replacing white collar workers, there is no reason to think next step of AI augmented with robotics won’t replace blue collar workers as well.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#52

Post by untrust »

darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

Another question: If AI is going to eat up everyone's jobs, how will any business be safe from a new competitor showing up and unseating them off their throne? I don't think that the low level peons would be the only ones at stake as a company could be easily outcompeted as well since AI could conceivably outperform or replace any existing product anyways.

I guess funding for processing power and physical machinery to run the AI backing a product would be the biggest barrier to entry?

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#53

Post by sevensor »

Der_Einzige wrote: post #19
sevensor wrote: post #12

What AI is going to wipe out is white collar jobs where people sleepwalk through the working day and carelessly half ass every task. In 2025, we can get LLMs to do that for us. Unfortunately, the kind of executive who thinks AI is a legitimate replacement for actual work does not recognize the difference. I expect to see the more credulous CEOs dynamiting their companies as a result. Whether the rest of us can surviv…

Consulting companies like the Big 4 where this happens most are bigger/stronger than ever (primarily due to AI related consulting). Try again.

What makes you think productive work is what consulting companies are selling? They're there for laundering accountability. When you bring in consultants to roll out your corporate AI strategy, and it all falls apart in a few years, you can say, "we were following best practices, nobody could have anticipated X," where X is whatever failure mode ultimately tanks the AI strategy.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#54

Post by eyesofgod »

FeteCommuniste wrote: post #38
darth_avocado wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to see what that looks like, just look at the economy of India. Do we really want that?

Certainly not what I want, but it looks like we could be headed there. And the "industry leaders" seem cool with it, to judge by their politics.

[flagged]

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#56

Post by layer8 »

untrust wrote: post #52
darth_avocado wrote: post #8

I don’t understand how any business leader can be excited about humans being replaced by AI. If no one has a job, who’s going to buy your stuff? When the unemployment in the country goes up, consumer spending slows down and recession kicks in. How could you be excited for that?

Another question: If AI is going to eat up everyone's jobs, how will any business be safe from a new competitor showing up and unseating them off their throne? I don't think that the low level peons would be the only ones at stake as a company could be easily outcompeted as well since AI could conceivably outperform or replace any existing product anyways. I guess funding for processing power and physical machinery t…

Institutional knowledge is key here. Third parties can’t replicate it quickly just by using AI.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#57

Post by darth_avocado »

munksbeer wrote: post #42
darth_avocado wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to see what that looks like, just look at the economy of India. Do we really want that?

The economy of India is trending in the opposite direction to this narrative. More and more people lifted out of poverty as they modernise.

The comment wasn’t on the trend or where things are going and the historical progress the country has made. The comment was on the current state of the economy. The fact that wealth concentration creates its own unique challenges. If as many people were unemployed and in poverty (or in the low income bracket) in the US or any other developed nation, the living conditions would have been drastically deteriorated. The consumer market would have shrunk to the point where most people couldn’t afford to buy chips and soda.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#59

Post by myko »

johnbenoe wrote: post #40
codr7 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excellent choice of words there: new standard. I'm sure we are, but it doesn't look like an improvement for most people.

Not yet at least, but there’s no stopping this kind of efficiency jump. Anyone who thinks otherwise is in denial.

Maybe, but aren't LLM companies burning cash? The efficiency gains I see from LLMs typically come from agents which perform circular prompts on themselves until they reach some desired outcome (or give up until a human can prod them along).

It seems like we'll need to generate a lot more power to support these efficiency gains at scale, and unless that is coming from renewables (and even if it is) that cost may outweigh the gains for a long time.

Re: The ‘white-collar bloodbath’ is all part of the AI hype machine

#60

Post by edent »

monero-xmr wrote: post #4

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_predictions_for_auto... It wasn’t just Elon. The hype train on self driving cars was extreme only a few years ago, pre-LLM. Self driving cars exist sort of, in a few cities. Quibble all you want but it appears to me that “uber driver” is still a popular widespread job, let alone truck driver, bus driver, and “car owner” itself. I really wish the AI ceos would actually make my l…

Buy a dishwasher - they're cheap, work really well, and don't use much energy / water.

Same as a washing machine / drier. Chuck the clothes in, press a button, done.

There are Roomba style lawnmowers for your grass cutting.

I'll grant you painting a house and plumbing a toilet aren't there yet!

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