As a creative, I’m constantly testing new ideas. So, I am taking a weekly LI newsletter idea out for a test drive. Each week I will select posts from my newsfeed; this week, AI and GPT dominated everyone’s conversations.
When I view these bits of newsfeed information, I feel as if I’m on a crowded freeway with my tech connections on one side of the highway posting the latest AI-styled app while on the other side of the road are educators, philosophers, and ethicists, discussing the importance of ethics, guidelines, humanity and related classes and degrees. Reading these posts offers insight and a unique worldview perspective.
Generative AI
Theo Priestley shared this video that was created by Generative AI. Fascinating to watch, although it gave me a slight headache, like wearing the wrong glasses. As he wrote in his post, these tools will offer creatives a new universe to create content. The video is a clever take on a classic novel and movie—a creative view of a serious story. As a creative, these tools are fascinating and concerning. It’s an odd feeling.
As someone said earlier this week, GPT and similar ML tools are mainstream. I anticipate a tsunami of videos and movies forming, and within months will flood the internet with content, causing a glut of stories.
The publishing industry has been dealing with an onslaught of GPT content since last year, overwhelming editors and publications as individuals seek to earn money from writing by generating content. I can only imagine the number of books uploaded on Amazon’s publishing platform.
The ability for creatives and artists to earn income from work will continue to diminish and is close to disappearing. This morning, I spoke with a neighbor who is a respected country musician and producer. We wondered how these new digital tools would impact the music and publishing industry. He said that his friends, who work in more traditional positions, often forget he has bills like everyone else. Or others think art should be free, which is a centuries-old argument.
When Everything is Automated – What’s Left?
I often wonder if colleges and companies think about the future from the perspective of STEM becoming obsolete due to automation.
This article about why English majors will be part of the AI Revolution caught my attention.
Across the world, schools and colleges have been rushing to pour billions of dollars into STEM classes which has created an imbalance. Nature isn’t a fan of imbalances; neither are humans. For example, if you ate the same meal every day for a year, at some point, your body would rebel and demand something different for dinner.
Nor is there an option – to opt out of our world’s hyper-focus on STEM, which may be one of the reasons why students are so stressed. When I visit my son, who’s in college, his peers talk about how they wish they could take classes outside their major. But the college has implemented a tightly controlled degree plan software which makes it impossible for a student to take a course that interests them.
When companies automate liner-based jobs – engineering, finance, accounting, computer science what positions will remain? What if companies automate STEM job positions? Then who will they need to hire? What if, shortly, the degree requirements flip from STEM to humanities?
We are unprepared for GPT and ML going mainstream; we are unprepared with a hyper concentration on STEM, which is one of the reasons why I decided to return to school last week and registered to take two philosophy classes this summer. What if we placed our bet on the future on the machines instead of humans?