AI - a big subject for a short blog but we’ll give it a go!
You know how some things remain niche, elusive and fringe-like for years, and then, all of a sudden they are catapulted, with irreversible vigour, into the front and centre of the Mainstream? Brexit was like this I seem to recall; there was a time when leaving the EU was just a fantasy of a handful of backbench MPs. Then - WHAM! It was on all of our doorsteps whether we liked it or not. The same thing happened with COVID.
I feel AI is another good example of this. Not so long ago, the then uncertain future of AI was just small chatter being had by tech geeks in a relatively informal way. Now, we are all talking about it. Ok, the conversation around AI has been going on for quite some time in certain quarters, but I guess what I am driving at is the way in which it has gone from being a theoretical discussion into something which is very much here and part of our lives in a way we can no longer avoid.
Take ChatGPT, for example. I remember just a couple of years ago when this was the topic of conversation on the BBC’s Question Time; what is it? How can we use? And should we embrace it? But these questions, in such a short period of time, now feel brutally outdated. ChatGPT is available to all and, in certain circles, is part of everyday use. The conversation now, for example, has moved on to how schools, colleges and universities can sniff out a ChatGPT constructed essay.
We should acknowledge, that AI is a broad term and could mean a number of things. From reasonably innocuous inventions like self checkouts in supermarkets to the more ominous machines which, we are told, could rival or even exceed human power and control. These opposite ends of the spectrum all fall under the AI umbrella.
And, of course, there are pros and cons to it all - massive pros and massive cons. Let’s take a look at some of them, starting with the pros…
The medical world is already identifying ways in which AI can be used in various systems and equipment in hospital settings. It can set up machinery for operations, predict patient outcomes, identify potential health issues and streamline administrative tasks. All of this, I am told, without laying off large numbers of workers.
Businesses are using AI in multiple ways including the enhancing of security measures; there are countless examples of how AI software has helped to prevent destructive and costly cyber attacks.
AI can also monitor workplace environments and identify potential hazards, leading to safer working conditions.
These are examples of how AI can improve efficiency, productivity and support our health and wellbeing - all positive, right?
But there are, of course, the inevitable trade offs. So, the cons…
What AI is replacing, perhaps permanently, is the main concern: namely humans. For example, self checkouts at supermarkets have been with us for nearly 15 years. How long will it be before all supermarket staff are replaced with machines? Surely not long.
Self driving cars and other vehicles could be on British roads as early as next year. Will we eventually see all driving becoming automated?
Even in the creative industries, so reliant of tangible human skill and talent - one would think anyway! - seem to be at risk from the AI revolution. In 2023, the Riverside Studios produced a play which had been written solely by ChatGPT. It received mixed reviews. And in the audio world, voiceovers are fast being taken over by computer generated sounds.
Bill Gates, a man known to have his finger pretty well on the pulse of things, recently said he believed there are only three jobs that will survive the AI revolution: coders, energy experts and biologists. So unless your work falls into one of these three fields (mine doesn’t) what is to become of us?
Well, that feels like a huge question with multiple answers. And if I’m honest, not one that I really want to get into right now. Not so much because I am afraid of the answer (I am sure a combination of global regulation and inevitable taxes on big tech will feature somewhere in the solution) but because that particular conversation just feels a bit overwhelming at the moment. And there are people far more qualified to wrangle with it than I am.
But let’s finish on a positive note. A few weeks ago I (James) did a Classic Party Games party in Putney. Just as I was finishing, the older brother (probably nine/ten) of the birthday boy approached me with a photograph. It was of me dancing with the kids during our game of Musical Statues. He had just printed it on his polaroid camera and said I could keep it. A polaroid camera! Something which pre-dates the digital world entirely! It was reassuring to know that a) polaroid cameras still exist and b) they are being used by members of Gen Alpha, of all people!
You can see the photo below. It’s a little blurry but it captures a moment of shared human experience and joy - what Nutty’s is all about. And not a machine in sight!
