Artificial Intelligence or AI has been one of our most recent pandora’s boxes for a while now. Debates over how regulated it needs to be, its benefits and its harm don’t seem to end. It has become quite difficult for the average person to grasp the speed at which technology is seemingly spiraling out of control.
Apart from all the speculation about the future of AI’s supposed inevitable reign, we look at what AI can already do now better than you and your fellow humans in general. We also brush over the kind of skilled labor that still evidently lies far ahead the intimidating reach of computerization.
1. Writers and Journalists
Via Robotics Business Review
Robots can’t be a Charles Dickens or a George Saunders, just yet. But they can write. This is scary. Writers and journalists have always been perceived as intellectual wizards of the written word. But computers are catching up now.
Narrative Science is a company that specializes in robot writing with the Black Mirror-esque goal of “humanizing data like never before.” They train computers to write news stories for esteemed client publications like Forbes (and others who prefer to remain anonymous). A second-half update of a football game? A preview of corporate earnings statement? They can do those too. And unlike the human racing and pacing to get the quick updates flowing on the publications they work for on time, they’re more efficient and more accurate!
When Wired magazine asked their CTO, Kristin Hammond, to predict the percentage of news stories written by robots in the coming 15 years, he sighed and said, “More than 90 percent.” And they’re trying to have their algorithms write even more in-depth articles and believe it’s something achievable in the near future. The Washington post announced they started doing this roughly about two years ago.
2. Construction Workers
Via Mother Jones
Although most of construction workers’ manual labor might seem easy to replace, it very much isn’t. Japanese contractors are facing an aging population, a quarter of which are over 65. So, their problem is not that of creating robots capable of higher efficiency than humans, but finding a replacement for the huge percentage of construction labor heading to retirement.
Shimizu Corp. have plans underway to automate a lot of construction workers’ jobs, but because construction workers move around a lot, they’re hard to be replaced by robots who could easily ruin the rugged harmony usually found on good construction sites. If this sophisticated technological challenge makes you suspicious of whether the majority of construction workers’ jobs will be replaced by robots, you should see this.
3. Drivers
Via The Independent
With the advent of transformational tech-enabled inventions like Uber, the number of people making money as drivers is only growing. But it’s about to witness a downfall because robots can drive too.
Even long-distance drivers like truckers are on the edge of disappearing as well. Yes they face challenges even in developed countries like the US, but their future still looks promising. And they’re making headlines all over the place. Meet – ironically – Uber’s self-driving truck.
4. Influencers
Via Lil Miquela
Although being an Influencer isn’t really a job, it does make a lot of people an awful amount of money. It’s difficult to tell what percentage of an Influencer’s income is generated through using their platforms to market brands, but their quotations are awe-inspiring.
Most Influencers will tell you that what makes their collaborations with brands and product placements successful is the personal human touch. But Lil Miquela is shaking up that argument.
Miquela is an AI Influencer birthed by another storytelling, humanizing, marketing company named Brud who are apparently trying to turn our life into a Black mirror episode. She has been successfully marketing for a while now and she has 1.5 million followers on Instagram!
