AI’s Role
How can AI drive us to a post-capitalist world? Is AI taking our jobs? Well, it’s a complicated issue, and I’ll try to address the majority of concerns we may have.
So, is AI taking our jobs? I mean, somewhat yes. AI is able to emulate much of what a human brain is capable of. It can understand human speech, make its own decisions and learn from its mistakes. AI chatbots are now commonplace and have taken the role of customer service assistants. They can also run automation lines, creating entire products without any human intervention. This has displaced a lot of employees, and it’s no surprise people are worried.
Autonomous vehicles may be a reality in the not-so-distant future. This would take any person controlling vehicles, such as drivers or pilots, and remove them from their job. It seems as though AI is set to take over everything, but not all jobs are as easily replaced. Anything requiring creativity, or even to an extent critical thinking, is safe. As far as we are aware, AI is incapable of being creative.
Some would argue that they in fact do have creative attributes, as they are able to create original pieces of art. But this is done by analysing patterns from existing artwork and attempting to replicate them. So is it truly original? You could also argue that humans aren’t truly creative, as we take inspiration from existing objects and without knowing it, use aspects of things we have seen in our lives to create something new.
What is creativity? AI takes inspiration from an existing set of data, which is pushed through algorithmic manipulation. Humans on the other hand take inspiration from personal experiences, cultures, and emotions to create. We use our own personal perspectives and can understand contexts to truly be creative. So AI can’t take that away from us, not yet at least.
If AI takes the majority of mundane jobs, we will need to move from capitalism to something new, where it can support everyone. Capitalism is failing to account for those who aren’t employed, and this number of people is going to keep growing.