RECENTLY, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-generated art has been making some noise in Twitter, with some asking if it is really art, and some asking if they are better than art made by people.
Later, the discussion shifted to asking if AI can replace artists by creating fast, efficient and high-quality works.
This question is not new. People have worried about machines replacing their jobs for decades now. It hasn’t happened yet, but now that AI is back in the news, it’s worth revisiting.
First of all, it’s worth pointing out that there are competing narratives/predictions with regards to AI. Some studies project that AI will lead to job creation. These won’t be the same types of jobs we now have, but at least they’re jobs.
The pessimistic projection, on the other hand, is that they will lead to net job loss in some way or another.
I lean towards the pessimist side, and here’s why. Consider all the things you could do on Google and the Internet today. A quick Google search will reveal all kinds of information, healthcare information, statistical data, financial advice, etc. Now, consider that instead of interacting with Google or a real life professional, you had interacted with a medical AI, a statistics AI or even a financial AI. That may be the future of AI and the labor market.
AI will replace those jobs which are more based on information than those that are based on manual labor (though the latter may be coming too). In the past, people thought that AI will replace labor-intensive jobs first but it seems the opposite is becoming true. Imagine an AI doctor, an AI statistician, an AI journalist and even an AI artist.
Should Filipinos be concerned about this?
Yes, because although we’re not particularly important in the global supply chain, we are reliant on a lot of jobs that are vulnerable to AI, namely Call Centers and certain medical professions.
The good news is that we also have a lot of laborers, domestic helpers and seafarers, all jobs unlikely to be replaced by AI in the near future, though no one can really be sure.
In any case, the concern over AI’s increasing capabilities is something to monitor./PN
