Past automation technologies had the most effect on low-skilled workers. But with generative AI, the more educated and highly skilled workers who previously were immune to automation are vulnerable. According to the International Labor Organization, there are between 644 and 997 million knowledge workers globally, between 20% and 30% of total global employment. In the US, the knowledge-worker class is estimated to be nearly 100 million workers, one out of three Americans. A broad spectrum of occupations — marketing and sales, software engineering, research and development, accounting, financial advising, and writing, to name a few — is at risk of being automated away or evolving.
I’d take that bet, even at outrageous odds. I’ve now won over 700 dollars betting against self-driving cars with people in the tech world, and another couple hundred against crypto. Some of that even came from my former boss. I think I’ve won over a grand betting against tech hype in the last 4-5 years.
Business Insider, in the unlikely event that you read this, DM me. Let’s make a bet.
We’d have to hammer out the exact numbers, but I’d bet against that quote I pasted claiming that marketing, sales, software, and R&D are going to be automated away.
Many a tech writer is anxious over AI and I keep telling them they’ll just become junior editors. I don’t care how good the AI is. If you take it at face value and publish, get ready for human driven rewrites.
No company will allow basic AI, open to others, to exist and learn in their private ecosystem. Just look at Samsung with dumb employees using AI for meeting minutes. I wonder how much info OpenAI or someone else got from that.
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