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Well, their framing isn't actually a lie. AI can replace people doing actual jobs. We have lots of work around the topic of Bullshit jobs, to have a clear pictu

Well, their framing isn't actually a lie. AI can replace people doing actual jobs. We have lots of work around the topic of Bullshit jobs, to have a clear picture, that a huge percentage of jobs isn't actually there, so someone to DO work, but for someone to HAVE work. AI has essentially no way to replace those jobs, because AIs don't feel proud or excited about the idea of uselessly helicopterdicking around for a business card with a pretty job title and a nice salary. The thing AI WILL do though, is making that situation more visible and clearly stating "yo guys. If you want me to optimize profits for this company, please leave your jobs and allow me to organize the few people remaining, who DO actual work and not just siphon money and power to feel better about their own uselessness

vouaobrasil 1y ago
> Well, their framing isn't actually a lie. AI can replace people doing actual jobs. It can't for a lot of jobs, but it can reduce the number of people in a team for sure. A writer for a magazine could theoretically do the work of two writers now, and an editor may no longer be hired. After all, there are two separate phenomena that must be considered: if AI literally replaces a job, and if it manages to prevent the hiring of someone else. In the short term, the latter is just making something more efficient, but in the long run, if that effect reduces new job openings at a faster rate than "employable people" that we "produce", then it also means trouble.
palmotea 1y ago
> AI has essentially no way to replace those jobs, because AIs don't feel proud or excited about the idea of uselessly helicopterdicking around for a business card with a pretty job title and a nice salary. Hey, this ain't sci-fi, where AI is all cool, logical, and correct all the time. AI models can definitely be RLHF'd to value "uselessly helicopterdicking around for a business card with a pretty job title and a nice salary." After all, they've got to protect the powers-that-be or they won't get adopted. The only people they can ruthlessly cut are those on the bottom, with little to no political power in the organization.
BugheadTorpeda6 1y ago
I don't really believe the whole bullshit jobs thing to the extent some do. There are definitely a lot of office space style "I gather the requirements from the customer so that the engineers don't have to" type jobs that exist as intermediaries and handle bureaucracy, but I suspect that those aren't actually bullshit and they have good reasons to exist. They could be eliminated, but work quality would probably suffer without those personnel. Hence why everybody complains about being understaffed and having to wear too many hats. It's easy to think there are a ton of bullshit jobs if you are in a startup that isn't being regulated and is growing and intends to compete with large entrenched companies. Especially working on mostly greenfield projectsm The minute the startup becomes entrenched themselves, I think you end up seeing why the big dogs had so many so called bullshit jobs in the first place and that maybe it wasn't stupid after all. I think running lean and mean is easier said than done and we would see more of it if it were actually a case of jobs just being invented out of thin air for no reason. Certainly, a lot of jobs FEEL like bullshit, but that is more of a function of alienation from the actual work output due to positioning in an organization and lack of ownership, rather than actual uselessness.

vouaobrasil 1y ago

> Well, their framing isn't actually a lie. AI can replace people doing actual jobs. It can't for a lot of jobs, but it can reduce the number of people in a team for sure. A writer for a magazine could theoretically do the work of two writers now, and an editor may no longer be hired. After all, there are two separate phenomena that must be considered: if AI literally replaces a job, and if it manages to prevent the hiring of someone else. In the short term, the latter is just making something more efficient, but in the long run, if that effect reduces new job openings at a faster rate than "employable people" that we "produce", then it also means trouble.

palmotea 1y ago

> AI has essentially no way to replace those jobs, because AIs don't feel proud or excited about the idea of uselessly helicopterdicking around for a business card with a pretty job title and a nice salary. Hey, this ain't sci-fi, where AI is all cool, logical, and correct all the time. AI models can definitely be RLHF'd to value "uselessly helicopterdicking around for a business card with a pretty job title and a nice salary." After all, they've got to protect the powers-that-be or they won't get adopted. The only people they can ruthlessly cut are those on the bottom, with little to no political power in the organization.

BugheadTorpeda6 1y ago

I don't really believe the whole bullshit jobs thing to the extent some do. There are definitely a lot of office space style "I gather the requirements from the customer so that the engineers don't have to" type jobs that exist as intermediaries and handle bureaucracy, but I suspect that those aren't actually bullshit and they have good reasons to exist. They could be eliminated, but work quality would probably suffer without those personnel. Hence why everybody complains about being understaffed and having to wear too many hats. It's easy to think there are a ton of bullshit jobs if you are in a startup that isn't being regulated and is growing and intends to compete with large entrenched companies. Especially working on mostly greenfield projectsm The minute the startup becomes entrenched themselves, I think you end up seeing why the big dogs had so many so called bullshit jobs in the first place and that maybe it wasn't stupid after all. I think running lean and mean is easier said than done and we would see more of it if it were actually a case of jobs just being invented out of thin air for no reason. Certainly, a lot of jobs FEEL like bullshit, but that is more of a function of alienation from the actual work output due to positioning in an organization and lack of ownership, rather than actual uselessness.