I ran across this article on a survey about AI usage recently. The headline is this: 55% of businesses admit wrong decisions in making employees redundant when bringing AI into the workforce.
That sounds a little ominous for those making these decisions, and a lot of you might be saying, “I could have told you that. Using AI to replace people is a bad decision.” On the surface, I agree. I dislike the idea that companies will opt for a semi-competent AI bot or agent to replace people, thereby further exacerbating the challenges faced by many workers in the modern world.
However. 55% means 45% didn’t feel that way. That’s almost a coin flip for executives who want to make a decision about whether to terminate some employees and replace them with GenAI tools, especially workers who might do things like customer service or tasks that are narrower in scope and “seem” like good fits for an LLM.
A lot of the stats in the piece are presented in a way to paint AI as risky, but the numbers are often less than 50%. To me, I worry that this is a bet executives might make. Especially when this might result in a bigger bonus or dividend for them personally. I never discount the selfish nature of executive decisions.
So, what is my selfish case for learning AI if I might get replaced? The big number is this one: “…80% of business leaders plan to reskill employees to use AI effectively…” For me, in my job, I want to be one of the people execs see as effectively using AI.
I need to spend time learning how to, and how not to, use AI tools. They can be helpful, but they can also cause problems. I need to examine where they help, how much time they save, and when to abandon them and just handle a task myself. That last skill might be the most important. I also need to ensure I learn to work efficiently with the tools to save time and become more effective. That takes some effort and focus to learn to use the tools well.
There are always going to be executives who will make the decision to let someone go. Your (selfish) job is to ensure that you aren’t the one chosen.
Steve Jones
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Voice of the DBA 
These execs considering replacing humans with AI have not thought this thru very well. I’ve already started seeing stories on a few companies replacing higher up execs with AI so if these execs thought they were somehow safe from all of this they need to re-think that strategy. The bigger concern I have is what will happen once this becomes a near unstoppable avalanche as more and more companies feel pressured to do this to reduce costs just to stay competitive because other companies they compete with did it. This isn’t like past technical revolutions where humans had to learn higher level skills. With this there is no higher more skilled job to move too. If it were just AI then yes but its not just AI. Tesla robots are being designed/built to travel to Mars and build the necessary infrastructure for humans to come later and live. Most of what Musk has been pushing all tie back to his Mars effort from these robots to electric vehicles and even underground tunneling tech. These Tesla bots can already do house hold chores including detailed and precise tasks like cracking an egg for an omelet. Within <10 years these robots powered by AI are going to be capable of doing most if not all jobs that humans do now including ones many think will be safe for the foreseeable future like those in the trades. These robots absolutely will be able to plunge a toilet, build a home, diagnose/repair electronics and everything else humans in the trades do now. There is no such thing as a job that is safe from this save for MAYBE a few I can’t think of right now but even if these things can replace only half the work force that’s still a problem. If too much of the human population is unemployed b/c everything that can be done by an AI power robot is being done by one then who do these companies think their customer base will be for the products and services these things make? The system of commerce/trade can not work if most humans are unemployed and it doesn’t even need to be some very high number.Unfortunately short sightedness followed after by a requirement to stay competitive will force more and more business to replace humans with these things and we will hit a turning point. I like the idea of using some means to require these things to be treated as tools that help people do more in less time vs being replaced, but unless that can be enforced globally in some way it will not matter b/c businesses will move to whatever nation doesn’t have those restrictions and setup shop. I really feel like most are not considering the ramifications of AI powered Robotics. I also don’t believe I’m being overly cautious or exaggerating the protentional mess this could become. I’ve read about how some are saying governments can just switch to UBI (universal Basic Income) and robots can do all the work while humans pursue other goals. The problem with UBI is the $$ still has to come from somewhere and simply printing more and more of it will not do it. Another suggestion is to heavily tax the companies that do replace most if not all of t heir human work force with robots however that won’t work unless it can be enforced globally and that’s not feasible. Some small poor nation will see this as the chance to be a business haven by promising little to no corporate taxation and all these companies will relocate there. I guess the other nations could then use tariffs and similar trade restrictions to try and offset that but it will still be a huge mess and the masses may not have the patience to wait as long as might be necessary to work something like that out. It really is a perfect storm if society doesn’t get ahead of this problem now; before it happens. We humans have a real bad habit of waiting until pain is forcing us to act and do what should have been done so I don’t see this being addressed as it needs to be until things start to get really bad. Governments have gotten addicted to kicking the can down the road and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. At my age I will possibly retire before it gets real bad but I’m still very concerned about my kids and future grandkids over this. Both are going to college and neither is pursuing a career in something that within 10-20 years an AI powered Tesla robot won’t be able to do. If we as a global society do not get on top of this and very soon we may be looking at a very dark future.
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Doomsday..
I think we’re a long way from that. The Tesla robots keep getting better but they’re still a long way away.
Even the coding robots aren’t that close. They are becoming better levers to get this done but they’re still a long way from replacing humans
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