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The types of processes that AI is shaping up to disrupt are processes that are currently performed by people. Take, for example, accounting. A $15,000/year su

The types of processes that AI is shaping up to disrupt are processes that are currently performed by people. Take, for example, accounting. A $15,000/year subscription to an accounting AI might be slightly worse than a full time $150,000/year human accountant. But as long as it's not $100,000 worse, or breaking laws, then a small company is better off with the AI. As another example, take plumbing. An experienced plumber could charge $200 for a job. An AI by itself can't replace that plumber, but an inexperienced 21 year old kid assisted by an expert plumbing AI might be able to accomplish the same job at almost the same level of quality and only charge $50. As long as the pipes don't leak, you might be happy to save $150 and hire the kid instead of the guy with 20 years of experience and a family to support. Neither of those scenarios are certain, but they're within the possibility of what we could see in the next decade. And you could extend these examples to so many other professions. AI could be very very disruptive.

pram 3y ago
Both of those examples require licenses in many states. Not to mention an apprenticeship for plumbers, so you’d never get a dumbass kid working from his phone if you expect a permit lol
fatnoah 3y ago
While I understand what you're saying and agree that people processes are a place where the AI value will be captured, the particular cases you've cited are in fields where there are very real legal and/or liability issues related to "mistakes".
lancesells 3y ago
AI plumbing sounds like an idea that burns money and quickly runs out. Have you ever seen what plumbing looks like across different properties? Or ever talked to a plumber as to what their job entails? It's not nuclear physics, but it's also not legos or software.
- jonnycoder 3y ago
  The plumber reference is probably a scope for small home jobs such as snaking a clogged toilet, replacing a garbage disposal, replacing a toilet, installing a bidet, etc. Small plumbing jobs may look simple but require attention to detail and I'm sure an AI tool can help with that as opposed to reading fine print on the toilet instructions.
hydrok9 3y ago
yep, the main problem with "automated" bookkeeping or accounting software so far has been that it's so prone to putting things in the wrong category or miscalculating small taxes because it can't read the document Etc that it requires a human to overlook it. a small company ends up paying twice for bookkeeping services then, so it makes more sense to just do it in house.ai and lms will make this work so trivial that it will put a lot of people out of work.

pram 3y ago

Both of those examples require licenses in many states. Not to mention an apprenticeship for plumbers, so you’d never get a dumbass kid working from his phone if you expect a permit lol

fatnoah 3y ago

While I understand what you're saying and agree that people processes are a place where the AI value will be captured, the particular cases you've cited are in fields where there are very real legal and/or liability issues related to "mistakes".

lancesells 3y ago

AI plumbing sounds like an idea that burns money and quickly runs out. Have you ever seen what plumbing looks like across different properties? Or ever talked to a plumber as to what their job entails? It's not nuclear physics, but it's also not legos or software.

jonnycoder 3y ago
The plumber reference is probably a scope for small home jobs such as snaking a clogged toilet, replacing a garbage disposal, replacing a toilet, installing a bidet, etc. Small plumbing jobs may look simple but require attention to detail and I'm sure an AI tool can help with that as opposed to reading fine print on the toilet instructions.

hydrok9 3y ago

yep, the main problem with "automated" bookkeeping or accounting software so far has been that it's so prone to putting things in the wrong category or miscalculating small taxes because it can't read the document Etc that it requires a human to overlook it. a small company ends up paying twice for bookkeeping services then, so it makes more sense to just do it in house.ai and lms will make this work so trivial that it will put a lot of people out of work.