You have nothing to fear.
Yes, keep your eyes open, but don’t be afraid.
If you’ve been following along here, you know we’ve been exploring AI, its current and future capabilities, and whether we should fear the flapping jaws spouting doomsday scenarios.
Will AI become sentient? Will it matter?
Will AI destroy the human race?
Will AI become better than us?
Will AI take our jobs?
Will AI render us useless?
At this point, I’m not afraid of Player Piano, and I’m not afraid of Skynet.
Player Piano posits a future where humans no longer have utility and, by extension, purpose. We’ll just trudge through our lives without purpose while the machines do the work. That’s a very low view of humanity. History tells me that this couldn’t be further from the truth. History says that humans rise up. We no longer need to carry water from the stream three hours a day, yet we’ve filled those three hours with more utility and purpose.
Will some people feel useless or lack purpose? Yes, of course. Just like today. But not everyone. Humans will rise up and find their place in the order of things.
I’m not afraid of Skynet because, well, I just don’t see it. What I mean is I don’t understand what would drive the sentient AI to destroy us. Destroying the human race doesn’t seem like a data-driven outcome. That seems like an emotionally driven outcome. AI, even “sentient” AI, won’t be driven by emotions.
Remember, the way AI works (could change in the future, and then we’ll have to reassess) is not like a human. Similar to how humans can use an airplane to fly, but we still can’t fly — not really. Not like a bird can fly. Our current computing AI systems will scale up, become faster and more capable, but not in the way a human mind is capable.
Neural nets are interesting. More power and faster are interesting. Quantum computing is even more interesting. But these are still airplanes, not birds.
I’m deep in the throws of evaluating and using some of the various AI tools in my professional setting as the leader of a software development and DevOps team. I’m using ChatGPT and Bard in earnest. Can it help me? Is it scary? Am I part of the problem?
I’ve read, watched, and listened to many AI evangelists talking about how much it’s helping them in their day-to-day work. Here’s my evaluation of ChatGPT (GPT-4) and Bard’s current ability to make useful contributions in the software engineering world:
There’s something there, but it’s like a crappy intern at best.
It can do some things, but it needs constant attention, is always asking questions it shouldn’t have to, misunderstands very clear instructions, has a myopic view, and generally makes me want to give it to someone else to mentor.
This is why a new field of “prompt engineering” has popped up. But if I gotta be a prompt engineer to make it do what I want, how is that helping the general population?
But at some point, it’s definitely gonna take some jobs.
If you’ve experienced job replacement or been negatively affected by outsourcing and automation, then you understand one of the existential threats of AI. AI will take jobs, or rather, shift jobs and rearchitect the scale of the workforce in some areas. But technology has been doing this throughout the history of human work. One could argue that we haven’t seen a technology like AI to date, but neither did we see electricity, the internet, and airplanes.
Some will rise above, and unfortunately, some will not.
You can ignore the doomsayers. At least the dystopian predictors. Keep your eyes open for opportunities. Keep your eyes open for ways you can add value and make an impact. Engage your humanity.
But that advice isn’t novel or revelatory in any way. That has always been true.
This world was built for humans, at least the current version is. You and I are humans. Don’t ever forget that. Lean into it.
