The AI Conundrum as Artists and Developers

This week Im doing something really weird. Mostly because I delayed in writing this week as the original topic of managing bonus money was on the back burner. I have been prioritizing job searching. Apologies for such a predictable topic.

So this week I decided to play around and have a faux conversation with ChatGPT. More specifically, I prompted a topic lazy man style, and gave myself sections to retort and give my own opinions on the matter. You'll recognize this format because here on LinkedIn, that seems to be the trending contribution feature. I am just borrowing such idea and putting it in newsletter form.

Let's talk about the AI conundrum and what Chat GPT has to say about it. Here are my prompts leading to this result:

I write a weekly article discussing career development for creative people and programmers who otherwise wouldn't be focused on these additional facets of life. please provide me with 20 ideas of weekly articles. 
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can you outline a 5 minute read for #19
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can you take this outline and now write a newsletter article but write it in a way where I have a section to respond to your opinions on each subject. Keep the newsletter at a reasonable length so readers only spend 5-7 minutes reading.
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Do you mind rewriting this but bearing in mind that AI and automation are actually destroying our industries and not fully helping, nor integrating well. You are welcome to give your own opinion, but instead of asking me my thoughts, just keep sections for me to give my own opinions on the matter        

Here are the results:

Introduction

AI and automation are often hailed as the future of technology, promising increased efficiency and innovation. However, their impact on creative and technical fields has also brought significant challenges, disrupting industries and threatening jobs. It's crucial to understand these changes and prepare for a landscape where AI and automation may be more destructive than beneficial. **Okay not a bad opener..

Understanding AI and Automation

What are AI and Automation?

• AI (Artificial Intelligence): Systems or machines that mimic human intelligence, learning from experience, and performing tasks.
• Automation: Using technology to perform tasks with minimal human intervention.

Current Trends

• AI is being used to replace content creators, automate complex tasks, and even generate art and music, reducing the need for human input.
• Automation is eliminating repetitive jobs, but also encroaching on roles that require creativity and critical thinking.

** Okay let us pause here.

The "elimination of repetitive jobs" is certainly a strong assumption in how jobs work, but perhaps this is the mindset that was prevalent enough to train chatGPT. The benefit of a team is the plethora of uniquely human perspectives. Sure, many cases can be black and white and determined to be replaceable analytically. However, we have some room to grow before AI can freely generate the parameters and guardrails necessary for determining the scope of a job.

It may be worth noting too that the larger the company, the easier these scopes can be hard defined. But in smaller studios, smaller teams, or businesses with a more scrappy work style, cannot as easily benefit from reducing headcount in favor of automating receptive jobs. Too many hats to wear is like too many brush tips or too many if-else statements. Either you'll be using one thing 80% of the time, or will inevitably fail to find the ideal option to use.

I will admit as a Technical Director for animation studios, there are common problems this role tries to mitigate or solve because there shouldn't be a reason to keep dealing with the same issues. AI probably can't even help that. But having a system identify these offenses early and report on it without an artist needing to stop what they are doing sounds excellent to me. So some toolsets I would be fine utilizing.

The Impact on Creative and Technical Jobs

Challenges

• Job Displacement: Many traditional roles are becoming obsolete as machines take over.
• Skill Gaps: Rapid technological advancements outpace the ability of many professionals to keep their skills current.
• Ethical Concerns: The use of AI can lead to bias, lack of transparency, and ethical dilemmas in decision-making processes.

Opportunities While the landscape seems bleak, there are areas where humans still excel, such as nuanced decision-making, emotional intelligence, and the ethical considerations that machines cannot replicate.

Your Thoughts: Reflect on how AI and automation have impacted your role. Have you experienced job displacement or seen others around you affected?

I myself have not yet experienced this. Thankfully the massiveness of my employer requires them to first seek legal council and permission. AI tooling is hardly worth getting sued over when they already are equipped with premium talent who can build whatever they need to begin with. Determining worthwhile tools would take time too.

A large portion of art and development is the ability to convey a vision. Would you rather have immense talent get it right the first time or hit refresh over and over on generated content that is just kinda so-so and looks like the last 20 iterations you tried?

If you have been impacted though, please share your story below. I have a feeling that many of us, including myself without knowing, may already been affected indirectly with some of these general industry layoffs.

Preparing for the Future

Embrace Lifelong Learning

• Stay Updated: Follow industry trends, attend workshops, and participate in online courses to stay ahead. *** This is just learning. We should all be doing that anyways.
• Learn AI and Automation Tools: Even though these tools might replace some roles, understanding them can provide a competitive edge.

Develop Soft Skills

• Adaptability: The ability to quickly learn and adapt to new technologies is crucial.
• Problem-Solving: Creative problem-solving remains a uniquely human strength that is difficult to automate.

Diversify Your Skill Set

• Interdisciplinary Knowledge: Combining technical skills with creativity can make you more versatile.
• Collaborative Skills: Effective collaboration with AI specialists and understanding how to leverage these tools can enhance your role.

Build a Resilient Network

• Join Communities: Engage with professional communities to share knowledge and strategies for navigating the changes brought by AI and automation.
• Seek Mentorship: Learn from those who have successfully adapted to technological shifts.

Your Thoughts: What steps are you taking to safeguard your career against the disruptive effects of AI and automation? Share your strategies for staying relevant in a changing job market.

Responses like this is why I personally do not feel challenged yet by AI tools. It's so generic, why am I subjecting myself to this?

Truth be told, communities are powerful today. I don't know about you, but I tend to look for validated quality assurance through reddit groups and the occasional discord groups. Having the opinions, be it crass or informative, of many far out weighs the quality of now AI generated reviews. Chat GPT is right in having mentorship through others, communities, and embracing learning. That is the human aspect that will keep tools like GPTs at bay.

Social Proof in Trustable Communities  will triumph over Machine Built Transformer Models        

Damn if that isn't the most matrix-esque declaration I have ever said.

We do ourselves the most favors as people simply trying to navigate an already challenging career by fostering a healthy community experience. By healthy, I mean welcoming discussion on varied stances and methods to convey art and technology. The human experience always has a resilience that an AI seeking absolutes cannot outperform.

Conclusion

AI and automation are reshaping the landscape of creative and technical careers, often in ways that threaten traditional roles. By staying informed, continuously learning, and diversifying your skill set, you can navigate these challenges and find ways to remain relevant.

Your Thoughts: How do you see the future of AI and automation in your field? What measures are you taking to adapt and thrive in this evolving environment?

Look, it's not going anywhere. We have to rely on government intervention and guardrails to mitigate damage, and that is a slow process with concerning results. Who knows, maybe it really will be the start of an even messier, distrustful future. But we all do need to educate ourselves on the basics of these systems even just to navigate scams. Many of us had to adapt to the internet scam age and it is more aggressive than ever.

Despite referring to myself as a technologist, the application most AI has been used for I consider incredibly unimaginative or helpful. Once you know a little bit of the basics, you realize that NFT art is about as hard as a donut tutorial for blender. Crypto backends are best for historical proof like a really good logging system(but heavy), and Machine Learning is really really overbloated statistics that can output chained actions. NFTs became a tool with a poor association when it could benefit real world problems that anyone would appreciate. (never filling out a resume again or a medical form during emergencies). Crypto is now a hype-centric fandom mostly consisting on guys in peak Dunning-Kruger excitement. And AI is like "The Thing" out on the highway that some people think is proof of advanced lifeforms but is mostly slapped together with clay.

The real challenge will be how the consuming market takes to AI content. And if people even care anymore about human expression. 
But I bet that IF AI content was the norm, everyone would feel even stronger about stories just being the same thing over and over.        

Point is, AI is also a tool right now to achieve repeatable actions(even though many tools you would have better quality results on your own). However, AI itself cannot be a catchall for small businesses to get going. Some tools that are non-generative can still be utilized of course. Many, sadly, were trained off of unethical sources. But honestly, if you werent following that history, it all was done before the hyper even began and there aren't systems to reverse engineer this kind of data. once it is transformed into a model it is pretty much a tensor of number values.

All of this talk is exactly why I wrote a book on the absurdity of this chaos...

Feel free to use these sections to reflect on your experiences and strategies. Sharing your insights can help us all learn to navigate this challenging landscape together.