Artificial Intelligence Is Here: What Happens Now?
What does the age of A.I. mean for today’s workforce?
Have you ever seen the movie The Terminator?
If you have, then you’ll get where I’m going with this. If you haven’t, then I’ve aged myself big time, and here’s a quick summary:
The Terminator is based on a cyborg assassin (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) who is sent back in time from 2029 to 1984 to kill Sarah Connor, whose unborn son is destined to save mankind from extinction by a company called Skynet. Skynet is an Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) industry responsible for a post-apocalyptic future where robots take over the world.
While this movie (and its many sequels) became a big hit all over the world, it’s also one of the movies that have inspired the general public to not trust A.I.
I can’t tell you how many times a new piece of technology is created without hearing some form of warning or fear: “Watch out for the robots will come and take over the world!”
And believe it or not, The Terminator hysteria was just the beginning. Throughout the years, films like I, Robot, The Matrix, Chappie, and even the recent film Megan, all showcase the ideals and theories of A.I. both the light and dark sides.
For the most part, audiences would be captivated by these thrillers only to breathe a sigh of relief once the movie is done because they tell themselves this isn't real and this would never happen in real life.
A.I. and robotics have all been filed under science fiction fantasy…until now.
OpenAI’s , an artificial intelligence company, made its debut back in 2015 and in November of 2022, the company launched its latest product/service called ChatGPT.
While OpenAI has made it clear that its mission is to ensure that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity, many people are skeptical about this new wave ChatGPT…especially writers!!
With the recent news of ChatGPT being tested and used in companies (like Meta, Canva, Shopify, and BuzzFeed), there are pros and cons to the changes. The pros are that ChatGPT collects data from previous customers ranging from small to larger issues. ChatGPT responds with human interactive touch and resolves the issue at hand collecting more data the more the customer responds.
While ChatGPT was mainly designed for customer service, people use it for other purposes like writing. The cons to this are…what happens to customer service and writing jobs?
While A.I. can indeed offer services that can help businesses in different fields from customer service to medicine, others are concerned this will lead to massive job loss.
Robots may not cause the extinction of humanity, but can they cause the extinction of jobs within the job market? While ChatGPT is taking over customer service will it also take over content writing, sales, and marketing?
Human beings often fear what they do not know but also fear that their future can be overthrown by a machine. That the world will be cold and dreary place designed be corporations trying to save money by illuminate everyday workers from their bottom line.
However if the pandemic has taught us anything it’s that we as a race cannot live or exist without the comfort and connection of others. Humans thrive in community and although technology has gotten us closer to places we may have never seen before, it cannot replace the sensations that are needed in order to feel alive. Feelings of love, connection, empathy, and kindship motives us as a human race to keep pushing forward.
Beautiful bodies of work, work that has made history, we’re by human beings who’ve experienced pain, loss, and renewal which offers us a glimmer of hope. Hope that we too will get through the storm of living and that is extremely difficult to replace.
After speaking to a few writers, some are skeptical and dare I say fearful of what the future might hold. Other writers however don’t worry about A.I. taking over the writing community as one of them proudly stated “My writing has soul.”
Here’s to hoping developers don’t program that into A.I.!
What are your thoughts on A.I. and ChatGPT? Do you think this might be the end of an era or the beginning of something greater for mankind?
Leave your comments below and let your thoughts be heard!
Kimberly Delarosa is a freelance writer and essayist based in New York. For more information, visit www.kimberlydelarosa.com and sign up for the newsletter.
