AI in the Workplace

[Daytripper]

That is my biggest issue with the whole thing, you can already see it out their, a very very sad sight..

I can understand it in a way as the internet/social media has made some people up their own arse, narcissistic and attention seeking addicts. Throw in the fact you can earn a few quid by being like that as well it will only get worse.

It’s the infants growing into this now, the next generations, big concerns there. Makes you wonder what things will be like in 20 years time. What we grew up in will be a fart in the wind.

 

[LostLegend]

I work in manufacturing/food production running large industrial machinery.

Automation was the big risk as more and more of the menial tasks have become automated (not AI though)
We brought in robotic palletisers a few years back (big robotic arms that automatically stack finished products onto pallets) which lowered the number of staff needed.

AI is a fair way away from impacting a lot of manual skilled jobs though, especially stuff like the trades (electricians, carpentry, plumbing) and factory operations etc. as the tech just isn't there yet.

I think we'll see a lot of office jobs go first.

There's also likely going to be a big impact on University courses. Young people will be looking at AI and what jobs may go first and could shy away from stuff like coding and some areas of computer sciences as a result.

 

[Rita_Poon]

You also have to consider the social aspects, it could create an avalanche of introverts and hermits . People choosing to talk to AI rather than interact with people or look for a partner when they have something that tells them what they want to hear. A bit like the Joaquin Phoenix film Her.

 

[verreauxi]

For research purposes i think it will be useful as it evolves.

From a creative standpoint like Films and Video Games, I am not that keen.

 

[LostLegend]

It'll also be interesting (if not concerning) to see how the governments deal with these potential mass lay-offs (if they occur)

There's this utopian view that AI will bring in so much money for these companies that UBI will roll out and everyone will have more free time for their family, hobbies and the like.

I don't buy it personally. When you look at the sheer greed on display by the worlds largest corporations, billionaires and their governmental supporters, the idea that they'll somehow change their ways and spread the wealth around when they are doubling/tripling or quadrupling their profits instead of stockpiling even more wealth and resources seems highly unlikely to me.

 

[verreauxi]

It'll also be interesting (if not concerning) to see how the governments deal with these potential mass lay-off (if they occur)

There's this utopian view that AI will bring in so much money for these companies that UBI will roll out and everyone will have more free time for their family, hobbies and the like.

I don't buy it personally. When you look at the sheer greed on display by the worlds largest corporations billionaires and their governmental supporters, the idea that they'll somehow change their ways and spread the wealth around when they are doubling/tripling or quadrupling their profits instead of stockpiling even more wealth and resources seems highly unlikely to me.

Yeah, when AI meets unbridled capitalism, the inequality gap will only further widen to a few haves and billions of have-nots. I don't see it any other way.

 

[Daytripper]

I wanted one of them!

 

[Nymzee]

If AI ever gets to this level then... sure, I'll be back on board.

 

[leslad]

It’s going to put a lot of people out of work too.

in the short term, yes - especially in any kind of communication/journalism/clerical/administrative type work.

but in the long term, I can see the quality of products and services diminishing created by these occupations due to the "genericisation" that AI does. Lets face it, it's been programmed to sound confident and provide the most likely response - not always the correct response - and this leaves an obvious 'watermark' as people in this thread have alluded to already.

It's even more annoying when it sounds really confident but it gets it completely wrong, and as someone who does software engineering as part of their job, this is something I encounter quite regularly. For this reason, I can see those people being laid off being retained in order to correct any output of AI that's useless.

In any line of work where there are mission-critical actions taken with tangible results (e.g., medicine, business software, invoicing, civil engineering, even cooking etc), there'll always be only so much you can "leave to the computer".

 

[SerenityNigh]

Couldn't find a suitable/similar thread, but just wondering if anyone is starting to be concerned by the heavy usage of AI in their workplace.

I work in the construction industry but more project management/controls side of things and I am astounded at how many emails and reports I am receiving that have clearly got chatGPT's sweaty fingerprints all over it.

There's a young girl in my company that's recently been nominated for Apprentice of the Year for her portfolio work and I know for a fact it has all come from chatGPT.

I don't use AI myself as I think once I start I won't stop and I'm dumb enough as it is these days just from access to Google.

Anyone else a little unnerved by how dominating it's becoming? Does your company have ways to detect usage of AI?

Hell, even MS Teams keeps telling me to use their inbuilt Copilot system just when I'm chatting to someone.

seems very little difference between those who don't know how to read a spreadsheet now and those who don't understand anything more than an AI summary in the future; those who know and understand can cut through all the nonsense and get to what's important. I don't see this as any different*.

*I guess when an engineer or similar blames AI for a calculation that ends up killing someone, maybe that will be different, but still it's just a computer program

 

[SerenityNigh]

It’s going to put a lot of people out of work too.

There will be some of this, sure, but overall I don't see much impact

 

[SerenityNigh]

My good friend's husband uses it when they are out to dinner. As he is training for a marathon, if they go out to dinner, before ordering he'll ask chatGPT for a calorie/nutritional breakdown of the menu items (by uploading a photo of the menu)...it's just frickin' crazy.

He doesn't just eat what he wants? It's been a minute, but when I was running a lot I always ate whatever I felt hungry for, and it worked out most of the time.

 

[SerenityNigh]

I work in manufacturing/food production running large industrial machinery.

Automation was the big risk as more and more of the menial tasks have become automated (not AI though)
We brought in robotic palletisers a few years back (big robotic arms that automatically stack finished products onto pallets) which lowered the number of staff needed.

AI is a fair way away from impacting a lot of manual skilled jobs though, especially stuff like the trades (electricians, carpentry, plumbing) and factory operations etc. as the tech just isn't there yet.

I think we'll see a lot of office jobs go first.

There's also likely going to be a big impact on University courses. Young people will be looking at AI and what jobs may go first and could shy away from stuff like coding and some areas of computer sciences as a result.

I think this is right. Corporate behemoths (which includes too many universities) will see this as an efficiency tool. But the reality is most are so poorly managed that it won't help much (or it will create new jobs, like in Charlie and the Chocolate factory).

 

[Daveysgingerlovechild]

Utterly mullers energy and water with every search/prompt.

It can be useful but I wouldn't trustvits outputs alone.

 

[SerenityNigh]

He doesn't just eat what he wants? It's been a minute, but when I was running a lot I always ate whatever I felt hungry for, and it worked out most of the time.

*then again, I started running marathons because I didn't like Diet Dr Pepper, so maybe I'm not a good point of reference