Will artificial intelligence take our jobs, or help us do them better?
Posted On March 21, 2018
What is artificial intelligence? Should you be worried about it taking your job, maybe even taking over the world? Or should we welcome it as something that will make our lives better?
This episode of “What’s Working with Cam Marston” features Byron Reese, CEO and Publisher of technology research company Gigaom and an expert on artificial intelligence and how it affects the workplace and life in general. He has a book coming out on the topic next month, titled: The Fourth Age: Smart Robots, Conscious Computers and the Future of Humanity.
Not only can we humans not agree on whether AI is more of a tool or a threat, Reese says, but we can’t even agree on what it is. Reese shares the difference between artificial narrow intelligence and artificial general intelligence, and why one is commonplace – think spam filters and GPS — and the other isn’t even close to being produced. And, he adds, there are those who believe it never will be.
Reese shares why the percentage of jobs likely to be lost to automation is lower than you might believe, why automation actually helps us earn higher salaries, why unemployment levels aren’t likely to change much regardless of how intelligent AI becomes, and four things to ask yourself if you’re a small business owner to determine whether automation can help your bottom line.
How can we tell, though, if we are in one of those jobs that might easily be lost to automation?
Reese has a 10-question test for that. Suffice it to say that if you’re in a job where no two days are the same, that requires you to go to multiple locations, and that requires creativity, difficult decisions or emotional connections, you’re probably just fine.
Besides, technology could ultimately do so much more than answer phones and take fast food orders. With the exponential progress of technological power, there may one day be technological solutions to the problems of disease, hunger, poverty. Dare we think, Reese adds, maybe even death?
“All problems that are purely technical, we’re going to solve. If we don’t have the technology today, just wait,” he says. “These are not pipe dreams. These are real things we can accomplish.”
Finally, Reese shares what you need to do now to make sure technology is working for you and not putting your employment in jeopardy. In short, embrace it, figure out how to use it to be more productive, and most important, never stop learning.
“The most important skill,” Reese says, “is being able to teach yourself new things.”
You don’t have to be afraid of an AI-driven future. Join us and learn why.