This post was not created with A.I. and instead was written by a dumb human squishy brain. You will be able to tell due to it being written at about a 5th grade level.
When a new technology emerges there are often people who don’t understand the new technology. It’s the good old fear of the unknown in action.
Since the rise of better A.I. online tools such as text-to-image, text-to-realistic-speech, and chatbots that can answer almost anything, there was also a rise in fear-mongering. Artists don’t like how anyone can post an “original” painting in seconds, and people with jobs don’t like the fact that A.I. will replace them. 😉
I’m kidding, A.I. won’t replace everyone; yet. But what if it did? And, what if it caused world peace?
Let’s talk about the opposite of A.I. fear: A.I. peace.
I asked ChatGPT to teach me how to write code to scrape a website using PHP 8 and ensure the code was efficient and secure. It did that and explained to me why it was secure. I learned something. Quickly.
If I would have gone to Stack Overflow and asked I would not have received an answer right away. Actually, I would not have received an answer.
One time I asked a question on Stack Overflow and the question was locked due to asking for the code versus trying to learn myself. Even though many code posts are exactly that, people ask for code. Another time I got poor advice. A final time I was told it was a duplicate question. But, I had been searching hours for what I was looking for.
In the developer community, there’s something I dislike. Perhaps due to a fear of too many people knowing how to code thus reducing job chances, developers many times won’t give you code examples. Or, they will explain something vaguely, as if you are on the same coding level as them. It could be an ego thing. And/or, it’s also because they just don’t want to spend all day writing code for newbies.
With tools like ChatGPT this part of the Internet that I don’t like could fade away. Here’s why this is a good thing.
First, I’ll touch on ego. Not all developers are like this, but if you are a developer who never gives a newbie a single line of code, that’s not very nice. I understand, “teach a man to fish.” But, many people like me will only learn how to code certain things by seeing working code. That’s how I learn. I’m a visual, get my hands dirty, trial and error type of learner. With a tool like ChatGPT the developer with an ego no longer has to worry about people asking them, and the newbie doesn’t have to feel sad that no one will help them. It’s a win-win. “Ok, but what about the job loss part?”
Well, first it may not happen quickly. Code writing A.I. bots may not replace human coders in my lifetime. Or, there could be some job loss in certain areas, but then new types of jobs will be invented related to the A.I. or things that A.I. enables. For example, no matter how confident the A.I. is, you need humans to double check the code especially when it comes to security (hint: young people, go to school for something within I.T. Security, if you don’t go for A.I.). Plus, look at the past.
Don’t harp on the past if you want to get zen. But, it’s nice to remember history. Think about the steamboat engineer. Imagine you are a steamboat engineer and it’s right around the time when other types of engines are being invented. You might have lost your job on the steam boat but hopefully you took your mechanical skills and got a similar job. If fact, that’s exactly what you do. Then time continues moving forward and here we are today. The human race survived even though the steam engine industry crumbled. Some steam engine professionals lost their jobs, but they found new ones. Either new ones doing pretty much what they were doing before just with a different type of engine, or maybe they realized they didn’t like steam after all. They then moved to the countryside in France and started a vineyard.
So, A.I. is not scary because new things come out all the time and the job industry heals itself.
But, let’s not stop the positive A.I. talk there, let’s also touch on how A.I. could cause world peace. Hear me out.
I already talked about how without A.I. people tend to become gatekeepers. This happens both intentionally and unintentionally. I gave examples of developers not wanting to give sample code to newbies. There are other examples out there in different industries. Sometimes the only way to fully learn something is to get the degree in that field yourself, or slowly find all the information and teach yourself. But sometimes within a certain industry certain aspects are truly kept almost secret and you can’t find the information. Again, unless you get a degree. Gatekeeping information makes human progress slower, and creates more stress and unhappiness throughout the world.
Also, a major reason war exists is that many humans want what other humans have. If A.I. and robotics advance to a point where they are able to create almost anything a human could and faster, then good governments could decide that since civilians are no longer needed to make any products, they will simply give everyone X amount of money a year. Then hopefully, over time any evil governments left would dissolve. Leading to world peace. I realize this hinges on “good government.” I’m not saying there are zero holes in this idea.
Another way to put it is that many human problems come from doing things wrong, being too busy and stressed, or wishing they had what others have. If A.I. and robots did all the dirty work then all that’s left is to go out and enjoy life. Go hiking, swimming, travel, and spend time with family and friends. It would truly be an endless weekend.
An endless weekend. If done right, that’s what A.I. could eventually do for us.
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