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Of course AI increases inequality. It's automated ladder pulling technology. To become good at something you have to work through the lower rungs and acquire s
by bane 1y ago
Of course AI increases inequality. It's automated ladder pulling technology.
To become good at something you have to work through the lower rungs and acquire skill. AI does all those lower level jobs, puts the people who need those jobs for experience on the street, and robs us of future experts.
The people who benefit the most are those who are already up on top of the ladder investing billions to make the ladder raise faster and faster.
- _carbyau_ 1y agoWhether ladder raising is benefitting people now or later or by how much - I don't know. But I share your concerns that: AI doing the lesser tasks of [whatever] -> less(no?) humans will do those tasks -> less(no?) experienced humans to further the state of the art -> automation-but-stagnation. But tragedy of the commons says I have to teach my kid to use AI!
- musicale 1y agoIt's the trajectory of automation for the past few decades. Automate many jobs out of existence, and add a much smaller set of higher-skill jobs.
- AlecSchueler 1y agoCenturies, surely? "In the year of eighteen and two, peg and awl..."
- enjo 1y agoYep but this time is different because it's going to completely displace what is left of the middle class and this time the people being fucked have six figures of college debt.
- charcircuit 1y agoAI can teach you the lower rungs more effectively than what existed before.
- imiric 1y agoAnd yet it's not used that way in the vast majority of cases. Most people don't want to learn. They want to get a result quickly, and move on.
- charcircuit 1y agoThere is a difference between pulling up a ladder and people choosing not to climb it.
- amrocha 1y agoIt’s a very small difference. People would rather line up for the elevator than take the stairs. That’s just human nature.
- bubblyworld 1y agoI agree with you - I learned to program because I found it fascinating, and wanted to know how my computer worked, not because it was the only option available to me at the time... There are always people willing to take shortcuts at long-term expense. Frankly I'm fine with the selection pressure changing in our industry. Those who want to learn will still find a way to do it.
- victorbjorklund 1y agoHonestly not sure it is easier to learn coding today than before. In theory maybe but in reality 99% of people will use AI as a crutch - half or learning is when you have to struggle a bit with something. If all the answers are always in front of you it will be harder to learn. I know it would be hard for me to learn if I could just ask for the code all the time.
- 1y ago
- rnaarten 1y agoWhen you have an unfair system, every technology advancement will benefit the few more than the many. So off course AI falls into this realm.
- miljanm 1y agowhat's fair? how do you measure fairness?
- EthanHeilman 1y agoAI has been extremely useful at teaching me things. Granted I needed to already know how to learn and work through the math myself, but when I get stuck it is more helpful than any other resource on the internet. > To become good at something you have to work through the lower rungs and acquire skill. AI does all those lower level jobs, puts the people who need those jobs for experience on the street, and robs us of future experts. You can still do that with AI, you give yourself assignments and then use the AI as a resource when you get stuck. As you get better you ask the AI less and less. The fact that the AI is wrong sometimes is like test that allows you to evaluate if you are internalizing the skills or just trusting the AI. If we ever have AIs which don't hallucinate, I'd want that added back in as a feature.
- Flatterer3544 1y agoNot everyone have the privelege of learning for free or the time, many needs that lower level job that makes it possible to get paid and learn at the same time.
- trod1234 1y agoThis is basically the sequential pipeline for any career development. You get X*5 years of experience doing the job, you know how to do it much better without mistakes. If you can't get experience because AI has blocked that lower run, you basically have a 10 year countdown to deflationary spiral in that factor market; that's a problem for next quarter though.
- tom_m 1y agoDefinitely. I think it's worse than that too. I have a feeling it's going to expose some people higher up that ladder who really shouldn't be. So it won't just be junior people who struggle but also "senior" people as well. I think that only deepens the inequality.