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If AI can replace abundant jobs in customer service, this will mean that the entry level becomes harder and harder for people to access. Because the work that's

If AI can replace abundant jobs in customer service, this will mean that the entry level becomes harder and harder for people to access. Because the work that's left for humans will become more skilled and complex - the stuff the machines can't deal with.

JimtheCoder 3y ago
Not all of them will be super complex. Everyone talks about how they don't know what new entry level jobs will open up when the AI automates everything. When the delivery drones come, someone is going to have to go and retrieve them when they break down, or get stuck in trees, or shot at by someone...
- fatfingerd 3y ago
  Sure we already have that with scooter collectors.. If they keep working after VC money then the number of transport jobs they created are miniscule compared to the transportation they eliminated. Extreme poverty is nearing its end, globally, and with it this efficiency axiom will end too. As we get more efficient at delivering a reasonable quality of life with a lot less work the amount of labor needed decreases eliminating jobs which is a natural spiral. No longer is there a kind of global reservoir.
CTDOCodebases 3y ago
This is what I am wondering. The general entry path for IT (sysadmin) type jobs is get a front desk support job then start accumulating certifications. How is this going to that path? Or is AI erasing professions from the bottom up so no need for new workers into these professions?
- staunton 3y ago
  > Or is AI erasing professions from the bottom up AI will be erasing professions starting from the middle. It's going to be a very interesting, unprecedented development. Two things are important: first, how much value the AI will create. Second, who will capture that value. Assuming it creates an amount of value commensurate with the number of jobs it replaces, the only important question is whether democracies survive the transition. If they do, people retain political power and use it to retain economic participation. If democracies fail, well...
pessimizer 3y ago
Sounds wonderful. If only we had a society that was explicitly concerned with the welfare of individuals who weren't criminals, selected children, or the victims of natural disasters, everybody's lives would instantly become significantly better.
cycrutchfield 3y ago
Do we also bemoan the loss of backbreaking agricultural jobs or tedious and dangerous industrial work that have been automated away?
- tremon 3y ago
  We do, similar to the mining towns of the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50069336 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50069336
- jprete 3y ago
  Someone who was laid off from such a job and never got another one probably does, in fact, bemoan that loss.
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
- pixl97 3y ago
  Yes we do, search the term 'rust belt'. Agricultural jobs turned to automotive jobs that turned to no jobs and wide areas of depressed economic activity.
  - lotsofpulp 3y ago
    There is no one “we”. Many groups of people gained from cheaper goods and services. Some groups of people lost from loss of income.
    - realce 3y ago
      Yeah there's gonna be a whole lot of "comparative advantage" coming down the pipe, but the winners will become fewer and fewer by the day.
    - pixl97 3y ago
      And we shoved a million more people in prisons on that time frame, that are now an administrative burden on society. 'We' all pay for that.
p-e-w 3y ago
Don't worry – those "complex" tasks will be done by machines also, just 3-5 years down the line. It's all over, folks.
realusername 3y ago
Historically, each new tech wave also created more entry level / low pay jobs. The previous ones were Uber, package delivery workers ... This new tech wave will also probably create low entry / low paid jobs, just different ones. Maybe there's going to be entry level AI tuning or similar. It's hard to say how it will play out.
ilaksh 3y ago
Leading edge AI can already handle many skilled and complex tasks. Within a few years this will be widely deployed.

JimtheCoder 3y ago

Not all of them will be super complex. Everyone talks about how they don't know what new entry level jobs will open up when the AI automates everything. When the delivery drones come, someone is going to have to go and retrieve them when they break down, or get stuck in trees, or shot at by someone...

fatfingerd 3y ago
Sure we already have that with scooter collectors.. If they keep working after VC money then the number of transport jobs they created are miniscule compared to the transportation they eliminated. Extreme poverty is nearing its end, globally, and with it this efficiency axiom will end too. As we get more efficient at delivering a reasonable quality of life with a lot less work the amount of labor needed decreases eliminating jobs which is a natural spiral. No longer is there a kind of global reservoir.

CTDOCodebases 3y ago

This is what I am wondering. The general entry path for IT (sysadmin) type jobs is get a front desk support job then start accumulating certifications. How is this going to that path? Or is AI erasing professions from the bottom up so no need for new workers into these professions?

staunton 3y ago
> Or is AI erasing professions from the bottom up AI will be erasing professions starting from the middle. It's going to be a very interesting, unprecedented development. Two things are important: first, how much value the AI will create. Second, who will capture that value. Assuming it creates an amount of value commensurate with the number of jobs it replaces, the only important question is whether democracies survive the transition. If they do, people retain political power and use it to retain economic participation. If democracies fail, well...

pessimizer 3y ago

Sounds wonderful. If only we had a society that was explicitly concerned with the welfare of individuals who weren't criminals, selected children, or the victims of natural disasters, everybody's lives would instantly become significantly better.

cycrutchfield 3y ago

Do we also bemoan the loss of backbreaking agricultural jobs or tedious and dangerous industrial work that have been automated away?

tremon 3y ago
We do, similar to the mining towns of the UK: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50069336 https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-50069336
jprete 3y ago
Someone who was laid off from such a job and never got another one probably does, in fact, bemoan that loss.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
pixl97 3y ago
Yes we do, search the term 'rust belt'. Agricultural jobs turned to automotive jobs that turned to no jobs and wide areas of depressed economic activity.
- lotsofpulp 3y ago
  There is no one “we”. Many groups of people gained from cheaper goods and services. Some groups of people lost from loss of income.
  - realce 3y ago
    Yeah there's gonna be a whole lot of "comparative advantage" coming down the pipe, but the winners will become fewer and fewer by the day.
  - pixl97 3y ago
    And we shoved a million more people in prisons on that time frame, that are now an administrative burden on society. 'We' all pay for that.

p-e-w 3y ago

Don't worry – those "complex" tasks will be done by machines also, just 3-5 years down the line. It's all over, folks.

realusername 3y ago

Historically, each new tech wave also created more entry level / low pay jobs. The previous ones were Uber, package delivery workers ... This new tech wave will also probably create low entry / low paid jobs, just different ones. Maybe there's going to be entry level AI tuning or similar. It's hard to say how it will play out.

ilaksh 3y ago

Leading edge AI can already handle many skilled and complex tasks. Within a few years this will be widely deployed.