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I feel like I've read somewhat similar pieces about every single field affected by automation and AI at this point. In every other article, there's a dichotomy

by bschne 7y ago

I feel like I've read somewhat similar pieces about every single field affected by automation and AI at this point. In every other article, there's a dichotomy between "everyone will keep their jobs and be more efficient and have more time to focus on what matters" and "everyone will lose their jobs and be replace by machines". This then gets resolved to "we will never be replaced because 'human factors'", therefore option a). I am sure the author knows their field well, but this just doesn't seem to provide any interesting / new viewpoint on the issue beyond the arguments that usually come up in superficial discussion of the topic.

mr_toad 7y ago
The “everyone will lose their job” articles are usually conflating the current state of the art in AI with artificial general intelligence, which is still just science fiction.
godelski 7y ago
The bigger question, imo, is how we handle those job losses. Retraining doesn't really work. So what do we do with those people? Just say "whoops, your job is automated away. I'm sure you'll find some new equally paying job."? Because that seems like a good way to start a very bloody revolution.
- tedivm 7y ago
  Somebody has to annotate the data. Joking aside, I think for a lot of medical stuff the shift is already happening- there are less people going into certain fields (such as radiology) due in part to fear that it isn't a long term career. This is driving up radiology pay as the demand is outpacing the incoming supply. While I ultimately believe that most things are going to get automated, I do agree that in the short to medium term were going to see AI augmenting medical professionals rather than replacing them. This is just the natural progression of things- the technology can start off with the low hanging fruit and gradually take on more and more of the work. This provides immediate benefit while building funding and knowledge that can be used to take the next big step.
  - godelski 7y ago
    I agree with you. But what I'm saying is that this has societal impacts that we actually have to consider. A job's description drastically changing within a short period of time (i.e. a small portion of someone's career) is extremely disruptive. We should be having conversations with how we as a society are going to deal with these issues. (I don't think we should stop the march of progress. I don't think we even can -- short of a nuclear war)

by bschne 7y ago

mr_toad 7y ago

The “everyone will lose their job” articles are usually conflating the current state of the art in AI with artificial general intelligence, which is still just science fiction.

godelski 7y ago

The bigger question, imo, is how we handle those job losses. Retraining doesn't really work. So what do we do with those people? Just say "whoops, your job is automated away. I'm sure you'll find some new equally paying job."? Because that seems like a good way to start a very bloody revolution.

tedivm 7y ago
Somebody has to annotate the data. Joking aside, I think for a lot of medical stuff the shift is already happening- there are less people going into certain fields (such as radiology) due in part to fear that it isn't a long term career. This is driving up radiology pay as the demand is outpacing the incoming supply. While I ultimately believe that most things are going to get automated, I do agree that in the short to medium term were going to see AI augmenting medical professionals rather than replacing them. This is just the natural progression of things- the technology can start off with the low hanging fruit and gradually take on more and more of the work. This provides immediate benefit while building funding and knowledge that can be used to take the next big step.
- godelski 7y ago
  I agree with you. But what I'm saying is that this has societal impacts that we actually have to consider. A job's description drastically changing within a short period of time (i.e. a small portion of someone's career) is extremely disruptive. We should be having conversations with how we as a society are going to deal with these issues. (I don't think we should stop the march of progress. I don't think we even can -- short of a nuclear war)