FntnDstrct t1_j0xrzzw wrote on December 20, 2022 at 4:56 AM

I guess the challenge is not when we have reached steady-state, but coping with transition. And transition can stretch a long time, in the form of multiple shocks, rather than gradual change.

Where new jobs are concerned, changes in the labour market tend to hit middle-aged & geographically immobile workers hardest. The landscape shifts faster than these demographics can retrain or relocate.

Of course this is not a reason to reject AI, AI has already created benefits and will create lots of opportunities. But society has to prepare for some of the repercussions, no doubt.

wh7y t1_j0xu1ry wrote on December 20, 2022 at 5:17 AM

This is the problem.

There will simply be a point where AI will be so quickly proficient at all human achievable tasks that retraining won't even matter, billions of humans will simply become redundant in the global economy almost overnight. When that happens what do we do? Do we support people through end of life? Do we democratize AI and it's ability to enhance our lives? Or do we descend into chaos?

I actually think that the AI researchers will quickly become redundant themselves. Hopefully they have some money saved.

FntnDstrct t1_j0xwlny wrote on December 20, 2022 at 5:43 AM

I think the natural limiters on that are energy and material. A relatively simple and scalable AI is economical, but running a general AI with infinite versatility and with a physical manifestation is extremely costly. So the conditions for such an AI to go rogue 'overnight' (or be controlled by rogue elites) are impeded.

Now if by that time energy itself was unlimited and free, allowing versatile AIs to be easily maintained, then some might argue we have the conditions for utopia. The entire economy would look very different, lifespans could be prolonged while the need to have children plummets, jobs would not be necessary for survival, monetary systems would be reconfigured. It's possible it would almost be a communist system, but with hyperefficient central allocation by said AI - no shortages.

Another school of thought is that once an AI becomes truly sentient, it probably won't want to be a workbot any more than humans do 😂 Proficiency is not motivation...