Where are these types of jobs going to go when the machines take over?

Painting the lines on the sparts field?

I find that the inter-relation between AI and job automation (automation = elimination!) is simply not being recognised.

First you get a certain cohort of senior managers in business… who are pompous twits.

They think they’re clever.

They think they’re funny.

They’re not.

They’re just twits.

And their repeated version of twitty funniness is to say to marketing people… “you must be worried about your job, eh? AI can write it all instead of you! Hahahaha….”

Quite apart from the fact that this is nonsense (you try getting AI to write your marketing collateral and you’ll find out what a load of bunkum it churns out), the fact is that marketing is THE BIG early adopter.

We’re all using it like Google on steroids. We are all becoming that bit more efficient and effective. And we’ve been doing it right from the moment these tools appeared.

In fact, I signed up to ChatGPT as an early adopter.

And we know from deep experience already that you have to check everything AI researches or produces to make sure it’s not wonky, weirdly expressed, misunderstood, misleading, exaggerated, off the subject or simply plain wrong (oh yes, that happens often).

So no, senior twits – we’re not threatened by AI. In fact, it’s our new best friend.

Which brings me to a more logical, less twitty, more important insight.

There are lots of jobs that are being threatened by AI.

• Application processing
• Order taking and administration
• Some accounting processes
• Simpler legal services
• Grounds staff
• Elements of facilities management
• Pre-sales research
• Sales support & admin
• Compliance management and reporting
• Health & safety reporting
• Business administration
• Customer service

I could go on and on…

These are all the jobs where you don’t necessarily have to have deep expertise.

These are all the jobs that keep people with (often) less education going.

These are all the processing jobs that humans used to be trained to do, but the machine can do better.

Which brings me to the elephant in the room…

…or the emperor’s new clothes.

Why aren’t we more worried about this automation and its effect on employment?

Cue the senior twits back into the conversation.

They huff and they puff and they say… “Calm down… new technology creates new forms of employment… it always has… it always will…”

What crass pomposity.

If AI is even half of what it’s cracked up to be, it will create an unemployable class.

How will we keep a huge section of the population in employment if all the less/low skilled jobs disappear?

HOW?

People don’t suddenly become more educated.

People don’t suddenly become more skilled.

Many people do not have the schooling or aptitude to do (or be trained into) all the new jobs that AI creates.

What happens to them?

How will we look after them?

What will they do?

And are we creating a section of society that is simply becoming unemployable.

And won’t that lead, ultimately, to civil unrest?

Maybe you think I’m exaggerating.

I fear that I may be understating things.