Welcome again to yet another Friday, somehow. | Thereβs no way you can guess what the topic is this week. Wait, whatβs that in the distance? Is itβ¦ the clatter of more nonstop talk about AI? You bet your email client it is. | On the βsuper pumpβ side this week, weβve got Bill Gates writing a nice long blog post about how wonderful itβs gonna be when we donβt have to take AP biology tests any longer. (Worth mentioning Microsoft has staked its future on AI. NBD.) | On the other side weβve got the aptly-named Pessimists Archive going through the last 100 years of βThe robots are taking your jobβ doomsaying and their advice basically boils down to βchill.β | Go and read each piece because theyβre each good, but thereβs the hovering question over these: which is true? And does it matter? The differences are relatively subtle. | Even though it looks like theyβre opposing points of view on the surface, the thesis of each is roughly this: while widespread unemployment due to AI isnβt likely, the nature of work will change as more rote memorization/summarization/administration/etc is banished to LLMs instead of human workers. | Gatesβ statement boiled down from 5,000 words essentially says AI/LLMs are just a powerful new tool that will have some huge impact like the coming of the microprocessor, but we donβt quite know what it is yet. Pessimist Archive says that employers have used the threat of automation for years to keep wages down and that while automation changes how some jobs are done, there are other more fruitful jobs created in the wake. | So like any big new hypewave, the nuance around the discussions is where the real truth lies. This AI thing isnβt going to flip over the employment apple cart tomorrow, but it will get weirder as we experience the secondary effects of a new implement big enough that most knowledge workers canβt ignore it. | Is this going to change work? Yes, it already has. | Is this going to put us out of a job? No, not directly for most people. | Will we have to learn more skills and acronyms? Definitely. | Am I already tired and itβs just 9AM EST? Sources say yes. | There is a third option, of course. It might just drive us all insane. | | ON THE INTERNETS | Juice: the non-essential bit that enhances the userβs experience. Hard to explain, easy to understand. | Rocket-powered space planes get the thumbs up from NZ. | Cheating is all you need. | βTax Heaven 3000β is a dating simulator that also files your taxes. | TWEET OF THE WEEK |  | Jed Bridges @JedBridges |  |
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It's a very flexible system |  | | Mar 22, 2023 | |  | | 1.19K Likes 71 Retweets 15 Replies |
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| | See ya next week | β π¬ The EiT Crew at Status Hero | | WHAT'D YOU THINK OF THIS WEEK'S ISSUE?Let it rip, we'd love to hear from you. Click one: | | |
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