Posted on 09/04/2025 5:06:50 PM PDT by anthropocene_x
A recent survey of AI and labor data by a team of researchers at Stanford's Digital Economy Lab uncovered some of the first comprehensive evidence that the AI industry really is throwing the job market into flux. The scholars compiled three years of payroll records on millions of US workers at tens of thousands of businesses, allowing them to identify long-term trends according to jobs and age groups. Their first finding was a dramatic decline in employment for entry-level knowledge workers aged 22 to 25 years old, whose occupations are at the highest theoretical risk for automation — a metric called "AI exposure." These are workers in office gigs whose day-to-day tasks have a lot of crossover with AI functions, like software engineers, service workers, and marketing professionals.
(Excerpt) Read more at futurism.com ...
That’s like saying a businessman got dumber because he hired a secretary to type his letters, or an accountant got dumber for using a calculator. Tools don’t replace thinking—they free people to think about bigger problems. The same is true with AI: used wisely, it makes you more capable and smarter, not less.
““Grok, write me a song in the style of John Lennon.”
Try that. The results will scare you.”
It can’t be worse than “Imagine” or “REvolution 9” can it?
That makes sense.
Industry I know that is problematic is all customer based.
Learn to prompt.
They won’t happen. The big shots keep their jobs and their golden parachutes. Same old same old. Nothing changes except more people on the low rungs will be poorer. It’s always that way so it’s not really a change. I suppose they think AI can generate it’s own profits too instead of out of human activity. Wealth is a very human thing really. Humans create wealth as well as the demand for it. The end point with this is a bit murky to me.
“They said the same thing about the internet.“
They said the same thing about everything with the rise of the machines after 1750. That first metal lathe set off a shitstorm of change that created as it destroyed. Go to YouTube and search The 1751 Machine That Made Everything.
I’d provide a link but of course that once dead simple task is a state secret today.
AI is not intelligent and cannot reason, so no, it can’t replace the accounting department...or any other problem domain that requires cognition. It’s a big scam.
I can write an entire technical report in about three hours rather than one work day, so I’d say it doubles my productivity in this regard.
“”And I’ll raise that bet that in 25-30 years, AI will generate a huge leap in robotics tech that will make tradesmen homeless or on welfare.””
I don’t know about that. Will AI/robotics be able to replace plumbers? I really don’t see how. Imagine a creepy HAL-type robot showing up to your house in Armani overalls, ready to unclog your toilet. Nah.
Also, electricians, carpenters and the guys that mow your lawn are not “AI replaceable”, IMO. At least, not affordable for the average taxpayer... just like EVs are not affordable right now for average earners.
And unless robotics tech gets ‘that much better’ than it is now while also becoming affordable, I still see certain trades or skills being necessary in the future.
That said, most of the current types of jobs will no longer be there, I’m guessing. But there will be replacements in the tech field for those that have the intellect to learn. I feel sorry for those that do not have that level of intellect, though. The ones that flunk out of school might be the real losers in this dystopian future we’re facing.
It is fun to discuss and to think about... since I won’t be around to worry about it...lol.
Example: I analyzed Symbotic this week (using AI). They design, build, and deploy AI-driven robotic warehouse systems for Walmart and others. Their robots de-palletize inbound freight into individual cases (SKUs), chaotically stow those cases wherever space is open, and then rebuild store-ready pallets in the exact sequence needed for each truck—even down to packing pallets by the specific store aisle where they’ll be shelved. That boosts space utilization by creating very densely-packed warehouses, minimizes robot-traffic bottlenecks, and speeds retrieval.
What AI does here simply couldn’t be programmed in advance—no one could predict which spaces would be open or what retrieval conditions would apply. That’s why Symbotic uses AI: it dynamically maps every available stowage space, anticipates future demand, and tracks bins in real time to direct robots accordingly. What looks like chaos is actually continuous optimization: i.e., “thinking.”
I was shocked by that. That's a heck of a lot of warehouse space, if true.
I’m a computer scientist and yes, I’ve tested several of the most popular models. I stand behind my comment.
I’d say that half of the videos I am being offered now are AI. I think real content creators are being pushed out so youtube can take all the money.
The problem is real music now is mostly crap. I have heard AI that is better than modern music.
Already done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQRLuREwEoo
This is what is supposed to happen but look around you. Everyone has a phone and are dumber for it. They don’t learn anything anymore. They just use their phones to look it up. Most don’t remember anyone’s phone number. Many don’t even know their own.
Ask them and they will tell you, they don’t need to KNOW anything. They can look it up.
Technology should be making us smarter. Instead, its making most of us stupider by the day.
It’s just fancier software. Humans still control it.
If it replaces that many white collar workers then they probably weren’t needed to begin with. A lot of desk jobs are padded and duplicated.
When a new owner takes over a company, middle management is usually trimmed. I took over accounting for a large hotel once and fired many. They were bloated with “supervisors”. They had a controller. 2 assistant controllers and an income auditor. Only needed one.
Had nothing to do with fancy computer programs.
The current architecture of so-called “AI” is useful for very narrow use cases and with carefully trained models. These use cases include tasks such as pattern recognition, and AI is best applied as a force multiplier. It is in no way intelligent—no cognition, agency, or understanding.
A great example of AI’s flaws is the AI summary provided at the top when you do a Google search. When you are doing searches, start taking mental note of how many times it’s just plain wrong.
The current AI models are also prone to hallucinations. A number of high-profile cases involving the use of AI to write legal briefs have hit the news lately, and a common theme is the AI citing non-existent case law, or even adding spurious parties to the cases. I have seen fabricated citations in grad students’ papers a number of times when AI was used.
If you wish to use AI for certain tasks, fine. I’d caution you to go through the output with a fine-toothed comb.
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