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AI and the Automation of Work

ben-evans.com

61–70 of 268 posts

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#61
post #50

It's not ChatGPT what we should be putting in our forecasts, but its successors. And, from what I have been reading, our AI folk are coming with better performers all the time by chaining multiple neural networks, "making modular brains", so to speak. Any argument that starts by saying "ChatGPT is very bad at X, humans will always do X," is flawed IMO. So I think that any job that can be done by a non-human is up for…

I'd be quite surprised if AI (as we've seen so far) threatens manual jobs as these have already been under quite intense pressures to automate for well over a century.

The low-hanging fruit IMO are most likely to be anything that is done entirely via/inside a computer. Because interacting in the digital world is much less of an issue than having to deal with digital + physical world like manual jobs do.

That's not to say it will take all computer jobs but those intuitively seem like they will be the easiest for computer-based AI to do.

Something like working in a kitchen is a long way off (or at least will require a redesign of kitchens from the ground up or humanoid robotics that are effective, reliable, and reasonably cheap). Whereas if your job is already entirely done via computer with little real world engagement, then it will be much easier for AI.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#62

I had bought into the GPT-4 hype. I used GPT-4 on ChatGPT Plus for two months, but then I unsubscribed because I wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. It's certainly a very interesting technology. But in it's current form, I just don't see it replacing most jobs. Will it replace jobs if we scale further? I don't know, but my intuition says no. I feel that we will need some other major breakthroughs in AI to g…

It’s been incredibly helpful to me. It helped me figure out how to get docker containers setup. It’s even helped me figure out how to run data analysis on graph data. It’s not just made things simpler – it’s made things possible .

[flagged]

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#63
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s been incredibly helpful to me. It helped me figure out how to get docker containers setup. It’s even helped me figure out how to run data analysis on graph data. It’s not just made things simpler – it’s made things possible .

[flagged]

It’s probably better than most tutorials or docs

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#64

I had bought into the GPT-4 hype. I used GPT-4 on ChatGPT Plus for two months, but then I unsubscribed because I wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. It's certainly a very interesting technology. But in it's current form, I just don't see it replacing most jobs. Will it replace jobs if we scale further? I don't know, but my intuition says no. I feel that we will need some other major breakthroughs in AI to g…

The combination of ChatGPT and Phind helped me, a noob with 8 months of coding knowledge, build an app with real paying users and revenue. I would have never accomplished this on my own, and now I have a working prototype to find co-founders and possible investors.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#65

I had bought into the GPT-4 hype. I used GPT-4 on ChatGPT Plus for two months, but then I unsubscribed because I wasn't using it as much as I thought I would. It's certainly a very interesting technology. But in it's current form, I just don't see it replacing most jobs. Will it replace jobs if we scale further? I don't know, but my intuition says no. I feel that we will need some other major breakthroughs in AI to g…

It’s been incredibly helpful to me. It helped me figure out how to get docker containers setup. It’s even helped me figure out how to run data analysis on graph data. It’s not just made things simpler – it’s made things possible .

This is true. Particularly if you're a polgyglot working with many different stacks. You know how to do something in X and you've never done it in Y.

Explain it to ChatGPT and it gets you 95% there.

It's a huge time saver. Sure you could do it by browsing the web and sticking together a bunch of pieces, rewrite it twice etc.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#66
Improving some steps in your daily process by using LLM is definitely a worthy investment.

However replacing someone or an entire role category is a difficult transition. Humans don't change that fast, including the part of replacing other humans.

It's more likely that certain jobs will be in lesser demand when the businesses in question can get by using LLM, for filling a new position, rather than firing someone and replacing them with LLMs.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#67
post #50

It's not ChatGPT what we should be putting in our forecasts, but its successors. And, from what I have been reading, our AI folk are coming with better performers all the time by chaining multiple neural networks, "making modular brains", so to speak. Any argument that starts by saying "ChatGPT is very bad at X, humans will always do X," is flawed IMO. So I think that any job that can be done by a non-human is up for…

It has the potential to devastate economies like mine (India) where the entire middle class was built on outsourced tech labor. I can’t see how Infosys and TCS can keep employing 500k people when this tech matures within 5-10 years.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#68
post #50

It's not ChatGPT what we should be putting in our forecasts, but its successors. And, from what I have been reading, our AI folk are coming with better performers all the time by chaining multiple neural networks, "making modular brains", so to speak. Any argument that starts by saying "ChatGPT is very bad at X, humans will always do X," is flawed IMO. So I think that any job that can be done by a non-human is up for…

A machine gun on wheels, really? Hope it doesn't accidently shoot one of those amazing super-charged engineers and creatives.

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#69
post #50

It's not ChatGPT what we should be putting in our forecasts, but its successors. And, from what I have been reading, our AI folk are coming with better performers all the time by chaining multiple neural networks, "making modular brains", so to speak. Any argument that starts by saying "ChatGPT is very bad at X, humans will always do X," is flawed IMO. So I think that any job that can be done by a non-human is up for…

I'd be quite surprised if AI (as we've seen so far) threatens manual jobs as these have already been under quite intense pressures to automate for well over a century. The low-hanging fruit IMO are most likely to be anything that is done entirely via/inside a computer. Because interacting in the digital world is much less of an issue than having to deal with digital + physical world like manual jobs do. That's not to…

An autonomous robot cleaning the dishes on its own in an unfamiliar kitchen without breaking anything: how many years? What's your bet?

Re: AI and the Automation of Work

#70
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s been incredibly helpful to me. It helped me figure out how to get docker containers setup. It’s even helped me figure out how to run data analysis on graph data. It’s not just made things simpler – it’s made things possible .

[flagged]

They might not need it, but it might reduce the friction dramatically.

I use GPT to learn things occasionally, but it’s almost always something where I don’t have the language on hand to navigate the problem space. GPT is great at opening windows and giving you the tools you need to figure something out.

In my case, I usually get to a point where I think I get the topic well enough to leave ChatGPT and go out on my own. Something interesting here is that you can ask GPT to tell you where good resources might be found on the internet. Sometimes it’ll actually come through, providing you some decent places to investigate the topic even further. Whether it’s blog posts, long form articles, or research papers.

It’s mostly a matter of eliminating friction and connecting dots faster. It’s definitely not making something possible that wasn’t possible before.

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