When I think about the idea of artificial intelligence and all that’s come with it recently, I think of the Dr. Seuss book “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.”
Optimistically, we’re in a very exciting time for the technology, and the possibilities truly do feel endless. On the other hand, we may just be in another AI boom. The bubble could burst and leave us with just enough machine learning to make things a little easier, but without a major Jetsons-level advance drastically changing how we live and work.
What does that mean for your job? Has the robot takeover begun, is the emperor wearing no clothes, or are we somewhere in between?
Although the threat that artificial intelligence can lead companies to lay off human workers is very real — we’re already seeing it happen at companies like Google, Klarna, and Duolingo — many of the people Love Now Media met on the street in Philly had other things on their minds.
Toni from Southwest Philadelphia wasn’t too worried about the future of AI interfering with her career in human resources.
“I haven’t thought about it too much,” Toni said. “For some reason, AI to me is not at the top of my concerns. I think I find it to be easier for things … like they have AIs in grocery stores and it’s so convenient. So I haven’t thought about it as a concern, but I probably should think about it more.”
A majority of workers appear to be more worried about AI use in things like hiring, performance evaluations and promotions than about having their jobs replaced entirely, per a study conducted by the Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.
AI everywhere, and fast
There’s no question brands are putting AI front and center. At CES 2024, held in January in Las Vegas and considered the largest technology expo in the world, the vast majority of the more than 4,300 exhibiting companies were AI-enabled in some way. “AI is the story of the show,” said Chief Executive Gary Shapiro.
By the spring, many businesses had adopted AI tools internally, too. Over 65% of respondents to a May 2024 McKinsey survey said their organizations were using some type of generative AI regularly, double the percentage in a survey just 10 months prior.
Goldman Sachs is now forecasting AI investment to reach $200 billion globally by 2025. And it would appear that the transition to AI-powered jobs should at least be a net positive, with the World Economic Forum predicting the creation of 97 million new jobs by 2025 versus the 85 million jobs that could be lost to automation.
Deldelp Medina, executive director of entrepreneur support org Black & Brown Founders, is apprehensive about the future of AI in her industry, but from the perspective of the data that’s used to train the models.
“Data privacy is a thing that we’ve never dealt with, in particular during the rise of social media,” Medina said. “I think about how these machines are being fed and what information they’re being fed. That also leads to algorithmic bias that already exists, that leads to a whole bunch of other things that we haven’t really thoroughly…discussed or looked at.”
“I’m sure somebody somewhere knows what they’re doing, but I’m a little skeptical.”
Kimberly, South Philadelphia
Kimberly from South Philadelphia was also concerned about data privacy. “I’m not entirely sold on the safety of information,” she told Love Now Media. “I’m sure somebody somewhere knows what they’re doing, but I’m a little skeptical.”
Because Ian from West Philadelphia works with student data, security is also at the top of his list.
“There’s a lot more strict laws in terms of [the student data] we can collect and how long we can hold on to it for,” Ian said. “So we need to have AI programs involved with us that follow the same guidelines, which is hard to find.”
No one’s panicking…yet
Government has also been moving to adopt policies that are intended to act as guardrails in the race to integrate artificial intelligence into the ways that Americans live and do business. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy released an AI Bill of Rights to offer federal guidance on how AI should be designed, used, and deployed to protect the American public. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order to create an AI governing board to help steer the commonwealth’s use of generative AI.
Corey, a Philadelphian who has been working in professional kitchens since 2006 and is now based in Center City, isn’t too worried about artificial intelligence taking his job chopping and cooking food. But he does use AI to help with recipes, he said — yes, even a cook is using AI.
That aligns with something global artificial intelligence consulting leader Dan Diasio told Technical.ly last year.
“What we are starting to find is that being able to use AI is going to be core to everybody’s job,” Diasio said. “Everybody’s job will probably involve knowing how to work with AI in some way, shape or form.”
And although there are still plenty of jobs that won’t or can’t be replaced by artificial intelligence – this story by Upwork lists 119 of them – it may still be worth exploring how AI can make any job more efficient. “It takes people that are experienced with the technology to apply that creativity to reimagine their work,” Diasio said, “and the reimagining of work is going to be the hot job.”
As we think about whether it’s possible to ‘AI-proof’ a career, these tips from the Harvard Business Review may be helpful. At the end of the day, though, the one thing artificial intelligence will never be able to replace is the love people have for the work they do.
Lamar from South Philadelphia is the director of housekeeping at a Center City hotel who also has his own business as a DJ. He isn’t necessarily worried about AI taking either job.
He loves the impact he can have on others through music. Artificial intelligence running a music set list just wouldn’t be the same.
“I love to make people forget about their daily problems, bills, relationships, any problems they may have for at least four hours,” Lamar said. “I get them on the dance floor and … they let loose and be free and it’s always a good feeling at the end of the night when I’m finished and everybody’s exhausted and sweaty and they had a good time.”
