Let's watch our language when it comes to AI

"AI won't replace you [insert your profession here], but someone using AI will", is such a visceral, petty and malign phrase, I am sick and tired of it.

Now, imagine you're a 25-year old who newly-minted lawyer from a top 50 law school, 200K in debt. How does that statement make you feel? Hopeful? Anxious? Stressed? Now, suppose you're killing yourself studying for the bar exam and you hear this; instead of fully concentrating on your bar exam, now you're wondering if whether you should be studying "ai" instead, whatever that is.

Or you're a young medical resident getting paid 60k and working 80-hour weeks and you read that some study that a chatbot got better results than a doctor. How does that make you feel? Excited? More willing to go into a profession that demands so much of your personal and physical health? More willing to graduate with high six-figure debt?

Your words have power, use them wisely

With that simple statement, not only did we cheapen and put down those hard professions, we may be even discouraging young people from going into med school in the first place (which exacerbates an acute doctor shortage) and pushing them to become a TikToker or Youtuber, or maybe even a data scientist instead. You may think I'm exaggerating but what we adults say does influence what teens and young adults do, even if they feign indifference. Just look at college enrollment in the last 2-3 years.

It's not just the professional choices of youth we influence with visceral statements like this, it's their psychological state too. You may have noticed it is a scary world for youth out there. Not only are they facing climate apocalypse and possible superpower wars, but now you add in mass automation of blue and white-collar jobs and I would not blame them for becoming despondent and not wanting to actually plan for their futures and pursuing their goals, because, for what? And please don't come to me with this 'snowflake', toughen up BS. I graduated right into the Great Recession and I've been through some s**t.

But the truth is, a phrase like "...someone using AI will replace you" is extremely unhelpful and not actually factual. Nobody knows what's going to happen! Whenever someone says that, challenge them. Ask them, how do you know that and what data do you have to back it up? Maybe AI will replace lawyers, maybe it'll reduce the need for more lawyers or maybe it'll create legal jobs that don't require expensive law degrees, which is a net gain for all, as I'll explain later.

Apocalyptic pessimism versus blind optimism

We should strike a careful balance between apocalyptic pessimism and blind optimism. We should be mindful of the emotional reaction this phrase evokes on people. On me, it evokes images of scarcity, increased cut-throat malicious behavior, of going to war. Isn't Corporate America a miserable enough place as it is? Aren't co-workers backstabbing and conniving enough? Now you have to add more dread to young people's working lives with fear-mongering? It's not the rat race anymore, it's the Hunger Games.

A mercantilist mindset

In my own writing, I try to be balanced. I know I post concerning things about AI that may stress out some readers. Hell, it stresses me out, but those are real potential harms. I call for regulation, awareness, citizen involvement, education and reskilling. But you'll never hear me say "somebody using AI will take your job".

I've noticed a lot of people who say that, always follow-it up with 'here are 10 tools you should learn' and when you check out the tools, they're half-baked, underdeveloped products that were launched too quickly due to FOMO and a mercantilist mindset that tells us there's not enough for all and get yours while you can. They also ask you to subscribe to their newsletter so they can monetize you. They're unaware or don't care about the effects their words have on a [tech] workforce that's going through one of their worst moments financially and emotionally due to a down economy. They don't care about the effect they may have on a young generation that may end up making decisions out of fear, desperation or despair.

I do think we should talk about automation, AGI, superintelligence and other potential harms but we should NOT use AI to fear-monger, to scare people or to get them to sign up for your newsletter. AI is not gold, there is more of it. It can automate jobs, but it can also make you a more productive and efficient worker and create new jobs.

I will end here because this has gotten long enough but there will be a part 2, where I provide young people some ways they can approach the changes happening in the workforce and prepare themselves for the future from a position of strength.

#responsibleai #responsibletech #agi #superintelligence