The Great Replacement- To Surrender To AI Or Not To

With the rise of AI, especially Generative AI, there has been a great amount of joy for the ones who need the support such as physicians, scientists, and even farmers, where we are harnessing the power of AI to reduce workforce burnout, improve efficiency, protect ourselves from drastic climate changes, enhance work balance and much more. Here I wrote about how one has invented AI to predict mortality.

On the other side of the coin, there are groups of people who are driven by fear and anxiety, wondering if they will be replaced. This is interesting; as tough as it may sound, we have always been replaceable, either by other humans or just by an organizational change. I find this interesting that the levels of anxiety when the power is shifted to AI, seem to be sharper, larger, and quite unbearable for many.

A recent 纽约时报 article that pointed out if AI can replace a CEO has sparked curiosity, interest, concerns, and solutions. I believe anything is possible, and so I ponder we as humans have created AI and Generative AI and we have aggressively found ways for this to augment humanity, yet we are surprised by the power of our creation.?

I am not here to say, what is right vs wrong, as this is very much a grey matter, which doesn’t just address the workforce, but ultimately questions our very existence, purpose and sometimes the one thing we dislike the most- boredom!?

But what if, we just went with the flow, and allowed the complete replacement to take place and all our jobs were taken care of, would we enjoy sitting under the stars, creating our farm-to-table meals, spending more time with our communities and the automated economy and have a society with less divides and more unity and peace? or would we spend the next few decades un-doing our very own creation - AI and Gen AI?

One of my close friends called me a few weeks back and said “ Simi, you have been up since 4 am enjoying your work, let me tell you what happens here- people come at 9:00 am, try to create a problem, have lunch by noon, then spend rest of the day solving the problem they created - and leave it unsolved, and the cycle continues— this is much of humanity - we create our problems and try solving it”

We laughed and cringed at the same time, as the truth set in.?There are people whom I call "Cruise Controllers"- Cruising through work ( with all respect here), but with the bare minimum done. Is it fair to have these roles replaced?

Are we being thoughtful about which jobs we would like to replace and can we potentially create a matrix that intersects human purpose, productivity, and societal impact and make a thoughtful decision or are we more curious about the power of AI and are willing to see the mass effects of job replacements and existential crisis?

I believe, our most important pursuit in this lifetime is to find our voice, our potential, and gifts and share it to better humanity. To me, that lies in my yoga, hikes, writing, working, volunteering, and much more- which an AI can augment but cannot produce with the same level of depth, integrity, and meaning—- at least, not yet!?