Will artificial intelligence replace our jobs?
Published: 02:01 PM,Jan 22,2025 | EDITED : 06:01 PM,Jan 22,2025
A robotic arm by Siasun operates for display at the Beijing World Robot Conference in Beijing, China, in this illustration photo. — Reuters
'Will the artificial intelligence (AI) take over all our jobs and replace us all with smart computers and robots ultimately?' was an interesting question I received last weekend from Sulieman, who was worried about the progress of AI. I know this and many more similar questions are wandering over many people's minds lately, especially with the advancement of AI in many fronts and fields. My article today will shed some light on why I humbly believe that human intelligence will still prevail, as the difference between the two is still significant— least to the various research I have gone through on the difference between the two, i.e., human and artificial intelligence.
Let's look at a practical example today post Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI). You may be required to invest a lot of time to prepare for a quality presentation to deliver: be it for an office meeting, workshop, training, or a conference per se. This would include everything from thinking about a topic, drafting a description, conducting research, gathering information, formatting the slides, preparing to present, etc. Depending on the type of the presentation, you may be also required to analyze a lot of data from different sources and as validate the same. This specific task may also involve more than one person to support (for example, a creative designer). Today, thanks to Gen AI, that all can probably take you a few minutes (or hours) but certainly not days (especially if it is new content that you are creating). AI will easily process huge amounts of data from different sources, analyzing trends, creating slides, and formatting it to your liking, style, and theme—all that without requiring any other resource but some very well-crafted input from you.
Pretty amazing, right? The responsiveness of the system (computer, robot, etc..) is definitely something that humans cannot match (again, in my humble opinion). AI can process huge amounts of information/data in seconds (it is designed that way). We humans would get tired, let aside utilizing our emotion, experience, and intuition when analyzing or processing simple information, and that from a single source as well. This itself is proof in the pudding of how fast computers (AI systems) are, as opposed to humans (by design).
'They are fast, which means they could get jobs done much better than what we could do as humans, was the feedback I received from Sulieman after I shared the difference. My response was simply, 'No, AI is just a tool, yet a very smart one, though.'.
They can turn raw data from various sources and databases (stored by us humans) into valuable insights, yet faster. They are as good as the humans who have created them (and thus the advancements and continuous upgrades, e.g., ChatGPT v1, v2, v3, etc.). They don't have qualities that humans possess, i.e., emotions, intuition, empathy, experience, etc.
They are just a smart tool and very much a great companion or a partner, but not a replacement per se. They can’t compete with you but can surely work with another human to produce profound results together. They need humans to feed information, continue guiding, and improving them. And we humans definitely need them to support us in getting things faster (beyond our human capabilities). We need to rest, sleep, and also spend non-work quality time with family. They don’t; they just work for us (practically)..
To conclude my article today, I would like to share my final response to Sulieman's question, i.e., 'No, AI will not replace ALL our jobs, but many of those that don't require qualities of humans that machines cannot imitate today.'. I shared those qualities in the article. AI will only help and act as a partner/companion by lifting heavy weight activities such as analyzing various data, automating tasks and processes, and more 24/7—something that humans lack and cannot match computers on, obviously.
True, AI will replace many jobs, yet it will also create new ones as well. We should really focus on how we can utilize AI as a tool to get our things done faster, instead of being worried when and how it will replace us. They are not our competitors; they are our partners. Until we catch up again next week, stay upbeat.
Let's look at a practical example today post Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI). You may be required to invest a lot of time to prepare for a quality presentation to deliver: be it for an office meeting, workshop, training, or a conference per se. This would include everything from thinking about a topic, drafting a description, conducting research, gathering information, formatting the slides, preparing to present, etc. Depending on the type of the presentation, you may be also required to analyze a lot of data from different sources and as validate the same. This specific task may also involve more than one person to support (for example, a creative designer). Today, thanks to Gen AI, that all can probably take you a few minutes (or hours) but certainly not days (especially if it is new content that you are creating). AI will easily process huge amounts of data from different sources, analyzing trends, creating slides, and formatting it to your liking, style, and theme—all that without requiring any other resource but some very well-crafted input from you.
Pretty amazing, right? The responsiveness of the system (computer, robot, etc..) is definitely something that humans cannot match (again, in my humble opinion). AI can process huge amounts of information/data in seconds (it is designed that way). We humans would get tired, let aside utilizing our emotion, experience, and intuition when analyzing or processing simple information, and that from a single source as well. This itself is proof in the pudding of how fast computers (AI systems) are, as opposed to humans (by design).
'They are fast, which means they could get jobs done much better than what we could do as humans, was the feedback I received from Sulieman after I shared the difference. My response was simply, 'No, AI is just a tool, yet a very smart one, though.'.
They can turn raw data from various sources and databases (stored by us humans) into valuable insights, yet faster. They are as good as the humans who have created them (and thus the advancements and continuous upgrades, e.g., ChatGPT v1, v2, v3, etc.). They don't have qualities that humans possess, i.e., emotions, intuition, empathy, experience, etc.
They are just a smart tool and very much a great companion or a partner, but not a replacement per se. They can’t compete with you but can surely work with another human to produce profound results together. They need humans to feed information, continue guiding, and improving them. And we humans definitely need them to support us in getting things faster (beyond our human capabilities). We need to rest, sleep, and also spend non-work quality time with family. They don’t; they just work for us (practically)..
To conclude my article today, I would like to share my final response to Sulieman's question, i.e., 'No, AI will not replace ALL our jobs, but many of those that don't require qualities of humans that machines cannot imitate today.'. I shared those qualities in the article. AI will only help and act as a partner/companion by lifting heavy weight activities such as analyzing various data, automating tasks and processes, and more 24/7—something that humans lack and cannot match computers on, obviously.
True, AI will replace many jobs, yet it will also create new ones as well. We should really focus on how we can utilize AI as a tool to get our things done faster, instead of being worried when and how it will replace us. They are not our competitors; they are our partners. Until we catch up again next week, stay upbeat.