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If AI is actually going to significantly reduce people's job prospects, then what is called for is better social safety nets. In this scenario, we are entering a world in which there are many more people than jobs, but the amount of available resources are unchanged. If so, it only seems fair that the people who would have otherwise attained jobs but now cannot due to factors outside their control, would still receive enough resources to build a life for themselves. Maybe this is UBI. Maybe it is jobs in the military. Maybe it is more social programs to ensure that large groups of the population do not fall into complete poverty. We might also see even stronger anti-migration stances, as the jobs currently held by immigrants become competitive even amongst college graduates.
If AI does not do this, if it actually is just a tool, then the hype will eventually die down and life continues. Current tech students are uniquely positioned to learn the ins and outs of this new tool and use it to enrich themselves by creating further technological progress. We will see some industries die out and be replaced by others. There will be less demand for artists, and tech grunts who would have formerly been doing janitorial work on websites will either have to skill up or change career paths. But new jobs will turn up to replace them and the crisis is limited to specific fields.
That said, I understand the feelings of being lied to. You grow up taught to expect an easy life if only you study well and do as you are told, only to get the carpet ripped out from under you and saddled with debt. And my own stand on AI is pretty negative. I personally think the money spent on it would have been much better used on improving the school and medical sectors, or on improving social services. While the current models are vastly superior to those of 2024, they are still not at a level where I believe they have justified their costs. All the tasks LLM's can complete, could have also been completed by using the investment money to hire professionals to do them instead. Even if we do one day achieve AGI, it seems like all the spoils will go to individuals who could not care less about humanity and would happily let the rest of us burn if it meant enriching themselves.
That's lovely but we've decided to quadruple the population with immigrants to feed various political machines just before the UBI period hits. And we didn't even have the good sense of the Saudis or the Emiratis to make those admissions temporary and at our leisure
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