What are you guys doing to prepare for AI? Backup careers? Talking to kids?

[Anonymous]

A potential issue for my grandkids. Until then an assistant for those with critical thinking skills. Would be worried if I had a low skilled labor job where boys could work 24x7 without rest or complaint.

[Anonymous]

Work is going away. Human existence is evolving or potentially ending.

[Anonymous]

AI is completely overhyped.
It’s a tool. That’s all.
Weren’t we supposed to undergo mass extinction when word processors came out?
How did that go?

I’m a desk worker, and I’m not worried about being replaced by AI because what I do is multidisciplinary and requires nuanced thinking. At most, I will use AI to help write code more quickly and allow me to be more productive. Even so, being a desk worker kind of sucks. It pays well and has good benefits but if the playing field were leveled and more manual or physical jobs also came with good pay and benefits, I’m not sure desk jobs would have the draw that they have up until now.

Desk jobs are not inherently superior to other jobs. It’s ok if a few of them go away. Of course my parents wanted me to have a white collar job, since they didn’t and we lacked things like health insurance.

Right now is an opportunity for change. If most people aren’t going to do desk jobs, then let’s make sure those other jobs can support us.

UBI is not the answer since it disincentivizes employment and we still need to work to produce goods in services, otherwise what will we be able to buy with our UBI? That UBI will be worth less and less as goods and services will cost more and more due to demand exceeding demand.

What could be part of the answer is more part time employment and job sharing. Right now many employers are reluctant to do this because the costs associated with employing someone are high due healthcare costs. We need to completely separate employment from healthcare.

Moving to a 30 or 32 hour workweek would make things so much better for families. Parents would be better able to balance work with raising young children, not being constantly crunched for time, being able to prepare healthy meals, having time to really be present for each other.

Of course this is all a pipe dream when billionaires have too much power and are only interested in exploiting people for whatever they can get for them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:College education isn't what it used to be.

At one time it was difficult, and made to intentionally fail most who tried to get a BA or higher, similar to sports tryouts, military, etc.

Then along came the participation trophy culture and everyone got a trophy, then everyone was given a degree. Now they are not worth much due to that. So people keep trying to "catch that high" and going for PhD degrees now or multiple degrees. Due to all the soft easy student loans, everyone could do it, and colleges rapidly raised tuitions to ridiculous levels.

It's become a huge scam, just like the insurance scams and the housing market scams. It will all correct itself soon. A.I. might be the catalyst for the college scam at least, making most every job done at a desk obsolete.

I think it's going to be a shock for people like lawyers who, with a few exceptions, are going to obsolete by July 2027. The luckiest will be able to work as AI guides.

I should probably post this in the real estate forums—all those smug Bethesda lawyers in their fancy houses are about to find out what it's like to get foreclosed on.

Take it easy jealous non-Bethesda resident. They have already paid off and saved

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have been telling my son for years that automation will get rid of many jobs, and for the past couple of years, we've been discussing AI. I don't know why AI will be good enough to never have human oversight/verification, but it certainly isn't good enough yet. I use it often and see mistakes, often.

Without purposeful policy planning by Congress and the President, we are in for a sh**show. And they are incapable of anything remotely competent. So I think we will see a huge chunk of the middle class disappear. The types of jobs that will remain will be things like medical professions. Of all sorts, from the licensed practical nurse to the brain surgeon. It will be a field that continues to grow. Things like EMS will still grow, while firefighting may not. And finally, anything that serves the upper class with a personal touch will grow/thrive. Like high-end sales.

There should be discussion about a universal basic income, but there never will be.

Those nurses and surgeons are going to be assisting/operating on whom? Those without health care?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Performing Arts. Live theater, dance, music have outlasted every technology revolution in human history.

Oh, music is screwed. Live theater and dance are probably pretty good tho. But how many people are going to be attending dance shows when they don't have jobs themselves, or, they're so sucked into whatever AI slop is being fed into the socials they no longer care about live events.

Imagine parents suddenly turning on a dime and after years of prepping their kids for law school now all of a sudden are desperate to get them into Tisch for interpretive dance, argubaly the most AI-proof of jobs.

My dancer daughter was assuming she would go to law school eventually when she gets tired of being a poor starving artist. Lol

And now she’s going to be the only one of her friends with a job!

And who is going to pay to see someone dance when they are out of work? Or was she thinking pro bono dance?

[Anonymous]

Aaah it’s Y2K all over again
I think if our forebears adapted to the Industrial Revolution we will somehow muddle through this…

Also it’s interesting that half the doomsdaywrs are yelling ‘the birth rate is falling-we won’t have enough workers’ and the other half yelling ‘we’re losing most jobs to AI’. Ok…so both problems solved?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Lifeguards, camp counselors will be safe jobs... your kid just probably should get used to doing them into their 30s.

There will not be kids in camps if the economy tanks because 30% of workers loser thier jobs. You think Venezuela has summer camps. The only place to go will be criminal lands.

[Anonymous]

Gangs

[Anonymous]

We don't care. The AI will figure it out. *shrugs*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have yet to see an example of AI actually replacing a job. In my law practice we were asked to test out an AI research assistant and the results were complete garbage. I think in 2 years the shine will wane and in 5 years we’ll all agree that it was completely oversold.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/indeed-glassdoor-layoffs-ai-job-search/

There’s no reason to hire a coder anymore… web design isn’t a job anymore… architects, HR types, the army of people who do billing for healthcare and payroll.

It’s getting better and doubling it’s ability every six months. Bookmark this thread - your firm will have 5 percent the staff it has today in 2 years.

Bookmark my response - Companies who fire a bunch of people and expect AI to replace them are delusional. The smart companies will keep investing in people - at best their employees will use AI as just another tool to be more productive.

Oh maybe it’s stupid but it’s coming! If it can do 80 percent as well for 2 percent of the cost and work 24hrs a day… you’re cooked!

Nobody wants an 80 percent product. They want quality and will vote with their feet to get it. Companies are already spending extra money hiring people to fix damage caused by firing workers and attempting to replace them with AI tools that split out nonsense and alienate customers.

https://futurism.com/companies-fixing-ai-replacement-mistakes

[Anonymous]

The idea that AI will eliminate all jobs is so stupid.

People will use AI in their jobs to produce more. On average, the economy will grow.

Of course with every new technology there are some people that benefit more and others that benefit less.

Anyways, I have a ton of money saved so I guess I’ll take some time off to think about a new career and then get a degree in interpretive dance or something since apparently that’s going to be the only job left!

[Anonymous]

Jokes on all of you! I already sold my house and moved to a rural homestead. I’ve cashed out my 401k and am putting it all in fruit trees.

One day soon, early 2027 for sure, you all are going to be crawling in piles of scrap metal trying to shelter from acid rain and hide from terminator robots and you’ll be wishing you had my sweet, sweet jam. But it will all be in my pepper pantry. No jam for you !!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AI is completely overhyped.
It’s a tool. That’s all.
Weren’t we supposed to undergo mass extinction when word processors came out?
How did that go?

I’m a desk worker, and I’m not worried about being replaced by AI because what I do is multidisciplinary and requires nuanced thinking. At most, I will use AI to help write code more quickly and allow me to be more productive. Even so, being a desk worker kind of sucks. It pays well and has good benefits but if the playing field were leveled and more manual or physical jobs also came with good pay and benefits, I’m not sure desk jobs would have the draw that they have up until now.

Desk jobs are not inherently superior to other jobs. It’s ok if a few of them go away. Of course my parents wanted me to have a white collar job, since they didn’t and we lacked things like health insurance.

Right now is an opportunity for change. If most people aren’t going to do desk jobs, then let’s make sure those other jobs can support us.

UBI is not the answer since it disincentivizes employment and we still need to work to produce goods in services, otherwise what will we be able to buy with our UBI? That UBI will be worth less and less as goods and services will cost more and more due to demand exceeding demand.

What could be part of the answer is more part time employment and job sharing. Right now many employers are reluctant to do this because the costs associated with employing someone are high due healthcare costs. We need to completely separate employment from healthcare.

Moving to a 30 or 32 hour workweek would make things so much better for families. Parents would be better able to balance work with raising young children, not being constantly crunched for time, being able to prepare healthy meals, having time to really be present for each other.

Of course this is all a pipe dream when billionaires have too much power and are only interested in exploiting people for whatever they can get for them.

So, you're describing some possible solutions, but none are being taken by policy makers. It's going to be up to us to prepare ourselves. There's not going to be an UBI or a 30 hour workweek. It's just going to be no jobs for a lot of people.

You're also failing to understand the exponential nature of AI development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea that AI will eliminate all jobs is so stupid.

People will use AI in their jobs to produce more. On average, the economy will grow.

Of course with every new technology there are some people that benefit more and others that benefit less.

Anyways, I have a ton of money saved so I guess I’ll take some time off to think about a new career and then get a degree in interpretive dance or something since apparently that’s going to be the only job left!

Well, it's already eliminating a lot of jobs. And no one thinks it's all jobs. Just the kind of jobs that people think "oh, my job won't be affected!"

Why hire a lawyer when you can have AI do it better? Why hire 3,000 people to process healthcare paperwork when you can have AI do it?

It's happened and is happening. What are you doing to prepare?