Experts say artificial intelligence will take jobs but also create new ones
(CNN) - Recent artificial intelligence tools appear to be able to do what humans can and faster, but that means some people may be out of a job.
AI experts said the technology will actually create a large number of employment opportunities.
Shelly Palmer, a professor of advanced media at Syracuse University, said jobs like middle managers, salespeople, writers and journalists, accountants and bookkeepers, and doctors who specialize in things like drug interactions are “doomed” when it comes to the possibility of AI being incorporated into their jobs.
Palmer said jobs like these will all use AI but not necessarily be replaced by AI entirely.
“It’s not going to replace you. Someone who knows how to use it well is going to take your job, and that’s a guarantee,” she said.
By 2025, the World Economic Forum predicts that 85 million jobs will be displaced by automation and technology, but it will also create 97 million new roles.
This is something the nation has seen before, specifically in the automobile industry.
“While the auto worker may be displaced because they are not as good at welding or as painting as the robot, there are probably 35 people that have to be involved in the creation and maintenance of that device that welds better than a person,” Palmer said.
At Carbon Robotics, former autoworkers are building an AI laser weeder in Detroit for farms.
“It’s a direct result of the history of auto manufacturing that we have that skillset available to us all in one place,” founder and CEO Paul Mikesell said.
The laser weeder, still operated by a human but run by AI, can do the work of between 40 to 80 people, according to Mikesell.
“Labor is harder and harder to find every year, particularly farm labor. An AI system like ours that can do that job automatically saves a lot of time, money, effort,” he said.
Some music is composed solely by AI called Aiva. It is trained on tens of thousands of classic music scores and even has an album that you can stream.
AI music is more affordable, and there is no producer, composer or artist to pay.
“It’s taking away opportunity from songwriters, producers and artists, the people who are trying to feed their families,” said Karl Fowlkes, entertainment and business attorney at The Fowlkes Firm.
Something similar is happening in the art world.
Artist Karla Ortiz and two others filed a class action lawsuit against three AI art companies for copyright infringement.
Ortiz claims they are using her name and art to train the AI.
“The life of an artist is not an easy one. It’s feast and famine for most of us. We go job by job, and what happens when there’s a little bit less work to go around?” she said.
Stability AI, one of the companies named, says the suit misunderstands how AI and copyright law work, adding that it intends to “defend ourselves and the vast potential generative AI has to expand the creative power of humanity.”
The two other companies did not respond.
“I never thought we’d be here. It’s like straight out of a sci-fi movie,” Ortiz said.
Palmer said that we are just people, and AI is beneficial.
“This is not coming to kill us. It’s coming to help us,” she said.
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