The “Godfather of AI,” British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton, cautions that AI may eventually outperform humans in most careers, resulting in a widespread loss of jobs and possibly even existential risks.
Geoffrey Hinton laid out the risks of mass joblessness during an interview on the ‘Diary of a CEO’ podcast.
Hinton predicts that technology will eventually surpass humans in all areas, but some fields may be safer in the interim. He suggests that physical manipulation will take a long time, making a plumber a good choice.
“Train to be a plumber,” he said, emphasizing that AI is going to replace everybody in the mundane-intellectual labour sector.
Geoffrey Hinton argues that the replacement of white-collar jobs by AI assistants could replace people like paralegals and call center workers, saying he’d be “terrified” if he worked in a call center.
Hinton believes that a universal basic income would be insufficient to provide a sense of purpose without a job. He believes that mass displacement is more likely than ever and is already occurring, with AI being increasingly used for jobs popular with recent college graduates.
Hinton challenged the notion that AI will replace lost jobs by creating new ones, asking what functions humans would still have if AI were to automate the majority of mental processes. While acknowledging that some occupations would eventually be replaced by human-AI roles, he cautioned that this could result in a major employment reduction.
He pointed out that manual labor-intensive blue-collar occupations would be safer for the time being because they are harder to automate than desk-based or cognitive tasks. Because of the strong demand and human touch needed in these professions, industries like healthcare may adapt more readily.
AI is redefining how we do so many things now, and the modern-day workspace is not immune to this widespread phenomenon. While many believe that there are some jobs AI can never replace, regardless of how well the power of technology is harnessed, there are still ones that AI can do quite better than humans.
This comes as an encouragement for people to gravitate towards certain blue-color jobs, especially ‘Gen Zers’, who find themselves in this fierce job search market.
