Will machine learning become the key to leaner, meaner organizations?
One of the most striking things about generative algorithms and machine learning is that they are predicted to mainly affect white-collar jobs, rather than other disruptive technologies over the years, which typically impact manual tasks often dubbed the 3D or 4D jobs: dirty, dangerous, dull and demeaning.
The impact is being most felt in Big Tech, where a recent wave of mass layoffs has been described as a quest for efficiency, i.e. employing fewer people to be more productive. Meta’s declaration that 2023 will be “the year of efficiency” has been enthusiastically received by its shareholders, and the company has already carried out two waves of layoffs that have been criticized the legendary video game developer John Carmack, who has left the company and published a memo outlining his reasons.
What are we talking about? Can a company, given the current state of generative algorithm technology, consider replacing managers, administrative and other personnel with similar functions that would allow it “do more with less”? What has happened here is that the development of models with billions of parameters capable of mastering human language has allowed machine learning to evolve from the sophisticated automation tool we have known for the last decade to the point that it can now carry out tasks such as…
