AI will not put people out of work, at least not in the long run. But our roles will change. We will coordinate and manage more.
For example:
Writers will become more like editors. They will choose what to write about, how to write about it. They will validate the work. They will craft the key parts. But they will collaborate with AI when they want to deliver results very quickly. Sometimes writers will write just like they always have when they want to be poetic or very strategic. Possibly more people will produce written content, not less, in the same way that social media enables more people to publish their thoughts than ever before.
Programmers will become more like Product Managers. Programming has long been rather high level. We already often string together calls to massively complex underlying libraries. No longer are we painstakingly writing assembly language to implement things like spreadsheets. Complicated tasks are already achieved with a single line of code. With AI, the only difference will be complicated tasks are achieved with carefully worded prompts. The important high level questions will remain: what to do that will add value, generally how to do it. We will become more Product Owner paired with a team of extremely fast developers. We will still be using our brains and imagination to create results.
In other industries, such as healthcare, AI will assist doctors and nurses in diagnostics, enabling them to make more accurate and faster decisions. This will free up their time to focus on more complex cases and to provide better patient care. Similarly, in the manufacturing industry, AI will assist in automating repetitive and dangerous tasks, allowing for greater efficiency and safety for workers.
It's important to note that AI will not completely replace human workers, but rather augment and assist them in their roles. As AI becomes more advanced, it will enable us to take on more complex and higher-level tasks, allowing us to focus on more strategic and creative work. This shift will require upskilling and retraining for many workers, but it will ultimately lead to more opportunities and higher-paying jobs.
In summary, AI will change the nature of work, but it will not put people out of work. Rather, it will enhance our abilities and allow us to take on more complex and higher-level tasks, ultimately leading to more opportunities and better outcomes for businesses and workers alike.
[By Lawrence W. Sinclair, augmented by OpenAI's GPT models, Image by Dall.E2.]