LogFAQs > #972519305

Lokarin posted...

It's just cuz people realized upper management are the most easily replaced people by AI

No, it's because the artists finally realized they're not safe.

It's why I have no sympathy for the whining. Factory workers were getting their jobs replaced by robots decades ago, and everyone just told them to suck it up and go retrain their skills (as if that's a simple thing). Then computers started replacing customer service jobs and no one gave a shit about phone operators who lost jobs. Terminals and online sales are replacing cashiers and no one said "Hey, should we be concerned that you being able to completely avoid humans at all times might eventually start costing people jobs?"

And even projecting forward a bit - how many of the people who've been gushing over the idea of driverless cars and automated ride-share networks even remotely give a shit about all of the bus drivers, taxi drivers, and others who would lose jobs in the process? If they bother thinking about them at all, they probably just give a dismissive "Ehh, tell them to get different jobs then."

Now we've reached the point where the creative types are being threatened, and the people who thought they'd be safe forever ("You can't teach a computer to create art!") have suddenly been smashed in the face with the idea that they were wrong ("Holy shit, you CAN teach a computer to create art! MOMMY!"). So they're panicking and trying to doomsay and spin the idea that "This could totally go wrong in so many ways we should stop immediately!" and "Well, it's not really art because it doesn't touch the human soul! Please don't fire me."

That's why the backlash is so strong now. Because the people with the most effective skills and platforms for spinning propaganda are finally the ones being threatened. The creative writers can come up with some really good horror stories about why this is such a terrible idea and how it crossed the unspoken line and how it's now inevitable that the robot overlords are going to take over if we let this happen. But it's all inherently self-serving, because it means we don't need them anymore.

But the same thing is going to happen this time that happened when factories automated, and phones automated, and sales automated. In the end nothing is going to stop it and a lot of people may have to start looking for new jobs.