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Posted on with Erin A Olinick

What Are the Potential Consequences of AI and Automation on Employment and the Workforce?

Let's talk about the potential consequences of #AI and automation on employment and the workforce. As technology advances, it has the potential to change the way we work and the jobs that are available. While this can lead to increased efficiency and productivity, it can also lead to job displacement and changes in the labor market. How do you think we can prepare for these changes?


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Top comments (4)

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rainleander profile image
Rain Leander

AI and automation can help us become more efficient and productive, which is pretty cool. This can lead to cost savings for companies and even better products and services for us. Plus, as technology advances, it can create new jobs that we never even knew we needed. That's a big plus!

On the flip side, though, these advancements can also lead to job displacement. Some jobs might become obsolete or be taken over by machines, which can be pretty scary for folks working in those industries. And while new jobs might be created, there's no guarantee that people losing their jobs will have the skills needed to fill those new positions.

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ben profile image
Ben Halpern

I think some of the biggest consequences is that there may be no smart humans to intervene on one thoughtless manager unleashing AI in a way that causes harm, one way or another.

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dragosb profile image
disced

I think the AI is a higly productivity tool, in this times we need to adapt for new industry changes and learn more and more things, upgrade and improve us skills.
The AI is similar to industrial remolution. Adapt or die

Charles Darwin quote about adapt to changes

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syntaxseed profile image
SyntaxSeed (Sherri W)

I have a perspective from both sides- I'm a long-time web developer, so I see it from a creator's perspective. But I'm also from a family of generations of entrepreneurs & business owners, I'm a small business owner myself. So I see it from a business perspective too.

It's not good.

I know, without a doubt, that 98% of the business world will absolutely jump on anything that cuts costs, and it takes very drastic moral implications to make them think twice. There's a reason why we have laws against dumping toxic sludge in our waterways: without laws, corporations will happily poison us all.

You will have a tiny 2% minority of companies who take pride in the craftsmanship of the creation process itself. Who will market themselves as AI-free human-crafted product. And those will have a niche of buyers.

But the vast vast majority of companies will jump on AI as a means to cut staffing costs drastically. They will turn a fraction of the savings into price cuts, just enough to make the human-crafted products seem expensive, and they will bank the rest in C-suite bonuses & shareholder dividends.

And consumers will buy the cheaper products & services. Even if it means it's inferior, even if it means massive job losses to their fellows, even if it means everything becomes poorly remixed mashups of what we used to have. Walmart has spent decades proving that cheaper price is the main decision-maker on average. Not quality, or uniqueness or moral stewardship of the creation process.

I think we will see a massive swing into AI generated everything, with the web absolutely flooded with filler content. So much that people may rebound away from web searches to answer their questions & start talking to eachother again. Then when it gets so bad, a small rebound back away from AI generation & a new paradigm for the web. Till we find some kind of middle ground. But it will take a long time.

Anecdotally I'm already seeing a lot of posts in my feed, from artists, copywriters, and more that they have been laid off & directly told by their employers that AI is replacing them.

I'm pretty pessimistic about this. If we aren't fighting for a national basic income in each of our countries... we're in trouble.