11 ms·

One email written by GPT and suddenly the whole person can be replaced by it? That's quite the leap of logic.

chris_wot 4y ago
It’s a pretty good indicator that if a mass shooting happens and you must use ChatGPT to write the response then, yes, it looks like a big part of your role is superfluous.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
  Or, here's an alternative interpretation: the person was so overworked due to the endless stream of crazyness that has to be dealt with in the event of a mass shooting, they used ChatGPT to save time, and messed it up because they were under a lot of stress. Which would only prove that ChatGPT is hardly a replacement at all, just a new, buggy tool that was used for a single task. See how easy it is to construct an interpretation of events with a particular conclusion in mind? ;)
  - chris_wot 4y ago
    Sending an email about a mass shooting seems to me to be a key part of the job. That's the only interpretation I have in mind.
matwood 4y ago
> One email written by GPT and suddenly the whole person can be replaced by it? This is my problem with the current chatGPT hype. People ask it a programming question and immediately think programmers days are numbered. I have used it to grammar check emails, I guess I'm no longer needed at my company. I see these advances as the next step in productivity. Letting a tool write 'good' emails or mundane code will let people focus on other problems like figuring out which emails to write or which product features to add.
- adrianN 4y ago
  Any advance in productivity reduces the number of workers required to do the job.
  - matwood 4y ago
    One would think, but most advances are also followed by increase business activity to use that new productivity. There have been huge advances in technology, yet we need more technology workers than ever before.
    - adrianN 4y ago
      Eventually the music will stop for programmers too, but right now ChatGPT and its variants probably pose a bigger threat to people writing texts for a living. Journalists for example will become a lot more productive.
      - matwood 4y ago
        I've been hearing the music will stop for programmers for the last 30 years. Expert systems and formal specification languages were supposed to be able to generate software. 4/5GLs were supposed to allow anyone to write software (they actually have done an ok job). But with every advance, the business software goal posts moved. An advantage the typical IT worker has is they are generally used to the learn or perish treadmill. So whatever comes out will be incoporated into workflows and more complex software will be built. A rise in real journalism again would be great. Content farm/seo spam/content summarization should have been automated a long ago.
rgoulter 4y ago
Sure, I wouldn't come to that conclusion solely based on that point either. I think that 'university administration is bloated' is more/less accurate, though. e.g.: "The number of non-academic administrative and professional employees at U.S. colleges and universities has more than doubled in the last 25 years, vastly outpacing the growth in the number of students or faculty, according to an analysis of federal figures." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/higher-ed-administrators-growth_n_4738584 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/higher-ed-administrators-grow...
kcplate 4y ago
The whole person should probably be replaced because of their carelessness and laziness.
cs702 4y ago
In this situation, ChatGPT actually was able to replace the person. In fact, the person, a woman, voluntarily replaced herself with ChatGPT! But I didn't say anything about ChatGPT's ability to replace her in other situations -- that falls outside the context of my comment. Please don't attack a straw-man.
- mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
  You wrote, and I quote: "It says something about how bloated the administrative staff is that an "Associate Dean" can be replaced by something like ChatGPT."
  - cs702 4y ago
    It can, and it did, in this instance. Please don't take my comments out of their context. PS. This is my last comment on this thread. I have zero interest in arguing for the sake of arguing. Life is too short.
    - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
      You didn't say ", in this instance." If you don't specify, the default interpretation is that you are speaking in general terms. You're the one being all defensive about it.
anigbrowl 4y ago
Let's try it and see. If we are going to have AI replace jobs, start at the top.

It’s a pretty good indicator that if a mass shooting happens and you must use ChatGPT to write the response then, yes, it looks like a big part of your role is superfluous.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
Or, here's an alternative interpretation: the person was so overworked due to the endless stream of crazyness that has to be dealt with in the event of a mass shooting, they used ChatGPT to save time, and messed it up because they were under a lot of stress. Which would only prove that ChatGPT is hardly a replacement at all, just a new, buggy tool that was used for a single task. See how easy it is to construct an interpretation of events with a particular conclusion in mind? ;)
- chris_wot 4y ago
  Sending an email about a mass shooting seems to me to be a key part of the job. That's the only interpretation I have in mind.

matwood 4y ago

> One email written by GPT and suddenly the whole person can be replaced by it? This is my problem with the current chatGPT hype. People ask it a programming question and immediately think programmers days are numbered. I have used it to grammar check emails, I guess I'm no longer needed at my company. I see these advances as the next step in productivity. Letting a tool write 'good' emails or mundane code will let people focus on other problems like figuring out which emails to write or which product features to add.

adrianN 4y ago
Any advance in productivity reduces the number of workers required to do the job.
- matwood 4y ago
  One would think, but most advances are also followed by increase business activity to use that new productivity. There have been huge advances in technology, yet we need more technology workers than ever before.
  - adrianN 4y ago
    Eventually the music will stop for programmers too, but right now ChatGPT and its variants probably pose a bigger threat to people writing texts for a living. Journalists for example will become a lot more productive.
    - matwood 4y ago
      I've been hearing the music will stop for programmers for the last 30 years. Expert systems and formal specification languages were supposed to be able to generate software. 4/5GLs were supposed to allow anyone to write software (they actually have done an ok job). But with every advance, the business software goal posts moved. An advantage the typical IT worker has is they are generally used to the learn or perish treadmill. So whatever comes out will be incoporated into workflows and more complex software will be built. A rise in real journalism again would be great. Content farm/seo spam/content summarization should have been automated a long ago.

rgoulter 4y ago

Sure, I wouldn't come to that conclusion solely based on that point either. I think that 'university administration is bloated' is more/less accurate, though. e.g.: "The number of non-academic administrative and professional employees at U.S. colleges and universities has more than doubled in the last 25 years, vastly outpacing the growth in the number of students or faculty, according to an analysis of federal figures." https://www.huffpost.com/entry/higher-ed-administrators-growth_n_4738584 https://www.huffpost.com/entry/higher-ed-administrators-grow...

kcplate 4y ago

The whole person should probably be replaced because of their carelessness and laziness.

cs702 4y ago

In this situation, ChatGPT actually was able to replace the person. In fact, the person, a woman, voluntarily replaced herself with ChatGPT! But I didn't say anything about ChatGPT's ability to replace her in other situations -- that falls outside the context of my comment. Please don't attack a straw-man.

mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
You wrote, and I quote: "It says something about how bloated the administrative staff is that an "Associate Dean" can be replaced by something like ChatGPT."
- cs702 4y ago
  It can, and it did, in this instance. Please don't take my comments out of their context. PS. This is my last comment on this thread. I have zero interest in arguing for the sake of arguing. Life is too short.
  - mtlmtlmtlmtl 4y ago
    You didn't say ", in this instance." If you don't specify, the default interpretation is that you are speaking in general terms. You're the one being all defensive about it.

anigbrowl 4y ago

Let's try it and see. If we are going to have AI replace jobs, start at the top.