Two Keys for Surviving the Inevitable AI Invasion
Increasingly, people in the workforce appear to have a common concern “What can I do to survive against AI?” Here’s how to figure this out!
Two Keys for Surviving the Inevitable AI Invasion
Increasingly, people in the workforce appear to have a common concern “What can I do to survive against AI?” Here’s how to figure this out!
Jim Samuel
Artificial intelligences (AIs) are advancing rapidly in their capabilities to perform tasks that only humans could do till recently. Going beyond basic automation and factory robotics, AIs now appear poised to take over many ‘human-intelligence’ jobs such as content creators, office assistants, coders, para legal professionals and other knowledge-workers. Students studying to be part of the knowledge-workforce appear to be at a great risk of not being prepared for what lies ahead: generative AIs possess the potential to replace large segments of humans in the lower rungs of the knowledge-workforce, and probably some even at the mid-levels.
AI is defined as being a cluster of technologies that mimic human intelligence, especially cognition (i.e. the ability to see, etc.;) and logic (i.e. the ability to multiply or process data, etc.;). AI is adaptive, ever evolving and expanding to replace many aspects of the economically most valuable asset that humans possess: ‘intelligence’. Generative AIs will be able to ‘create’ text, audio, visual and code content, and can have a significant impact on the need for human labor. Naturally, people are worried about AIs taking their jobs, and I have heard many questions being asked, especially by students and those in the early stages of their careers: “Is artificial intelligence (AI) just another technology or will it replace humans?”, “Will AI rule over humans?”, “Is AI a threat to human existence?” and the most significant one probably is “What can I do to survive against AI?”
The reason the last question above, I think is useful is because unlike many other questions about the future of AI and human work which require emotive speculation from incomplete information, there is a clearer and arguably more objective solution many will probably find valuable. Very often, it is best to address problems with the dynamic “teaching to fish” principle, rather the static “giving a fish” action. Hence the answer to the surviving-against-AI question lies in personalizing answers to two self-reflective questions, the first of which is “what is it that I can do that an AI cannot do?”. It is important to address this in the context of one’s own job or business to identify and articulate the positioning needed for success. Not everyone needs to become a computer scientist to leverage AI technologies. Musicians can use AI to help compose music, business persons can run their businesses better with AIs, teachers can prepare students better with AI and medical practitioners can use AI augmentation for improving patient outcomes. Having answered the first question above, each individual must now ask another self-reflective question: “How can I use AIs to do my work better?” This is where keeping the questions in mind is as important as knowing the answers – because we live in a rapidly changing world. These two questions may be likened to two magical keys to ensuring career survival and even success amidst the ever-growing array of self-learning, super-optimizing, ever evolving and cleverly generative artificial intelligences. Magical because, every time these keys are used in a timely manner, they possess the potential to open up new insights and shed light on the best paths ahead - the two questions will remain the same but the answers obtained through repeated and iterative use of these question can be enlightening when faced with evolving AIs and changing value creation opportunities.
Why will these two questions work? The informative reason is that we have now moved from “survival of the fittest” to a “survival of the flexiblest” dynamic, where flexiblest = intellectually most flexible (yes, the urge to coin a new word). This is based on one of the distinct characteristics of the current and upcoming decades of change which is the adaptability of human intellectual capabilities for social and economic value creation. The logical rationale is that these two questions will not behave like static answers – applying them will lead to dynamically new answers as new AI technologies emerge. These two AI-survival questions can be viewed as an adaptability-algorithm for humans to succeed in the artificially-intelligent workplace of the future – just iterate them at appropriate times to stay ahead!
What will happen if you do not use these two keys? Even if you have job security now, and you feel comfortable that your expertise is valuable enough to keep you hired, think again – history is replete with examples of entire workforce segments of ‘irreplaceable’ workers being replaced with shocking suddenness (for example, many highly intelligent and experienced stock traders were replaced by artificially intelligent machines). One of the most useful of thoughts you can accommodate is this: Someday, someone who answers the two questions and applies them will replace you because you will not be able to match the potential of a human who is augmented (effectively supported by) an AI. Unless, of course, you answer these questions for yourself and apply the answers effectively, ride upon the AI wave and keep doing so iteratively. As aptly stated by Stanford Professor Erik Brynjolfsson, AI can empower “people to do things they never could before”.
The AI revolution is not a flip switch – people have time to prepare and make the most of the inevitably incoming waves of AI. “Machines may someday be as smart as people and perhaps even smarter, but the game is far from over”, says Gary Marcus, an AI-hype skeptic and scientist with a pragmatic outlook. Those who answer the two questions and apply them effectively and iteratively will ride the waves of artificial intelligence that are being unleashed globally. Knowledge workers will not vanish, but knowledge work may taper down in relative importance and economic value as “AI workers” gain prominence. Leaders and managers can use these questions as part of their toolkit to care for their followers and employees by applying these questions at organizational levels, and professors could pose these as preparatory questions to help students. In a future discussion, I hope to explain the ‘how’ of effectively addressing the two questions. The worst strategy for us as humans is to unwisely assume that we can confront the powerful capabilities of AIs head-on and succeed: going against inevitably incoming AIs will be like trying to stop a running train with bare hands or like racing against a supersonic jet, it will end badly. However, answering the two key questions iteratively will prepare us to step into the driver’s seat and harness the capabilities and capacities of AI, and succeed.
Jim Samuel is an information and artificial intelligence (AI) scientist, teaches AI strategy + oversees informatics programs at Bloustein, Rutgers University; follow Jim on Twitter @jimsamuel
https://twitter.com/jimsamuel/
https://www.linkedin.com/company/rutgers-masters-in-public-informatics/
Additional References:
Samuel, J., Kashyap, Yana Samuel, and Alexander Pelaez. Adaptive cognitive fit: Artificial intelligence augmented management of information facets and representations. International Journal of Information Management 65 (2022) 102505, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2022.102505
Samuel, J. (2021). A call for proactive policies for informatics and artificial intelligence technologies. Scholars Strategy Network. Url: https://scholars. org/contribution/call-proactive-policies-informatics-and