Replacing Workers with AI Requires Overcoming Big Hurdles
“Automating Yourself Out of a Job”
There’s an idea that all sorts of white collar labor will simply be automated, from software engineering to lawyers to doctors. The idea is these professions will simply create/train the AI systems that will come to replace them.
Part of the argument against this is that “no one will have jobs” and “what will we do with our time?” There are some dystopic and utopic responses to this (“no more people!” or “we will be able to do whatever we want!”), but I think the premise is flawed.
I remember at one point my old boss (who was all in on AI before ChatGPT) remarked that he was looking forward to the day where he could just use intelligent systems instead of software developers to write code. But the writing code I don’t think is the part where software developers earn their pay, and I’ll detail what they are.
The three hurdles that this premise of “automating yourself out of a job” fail to climb are:
- Accountability
- Judgment
- Legacy
I think AI has no answer or produces more problems within each of these categories. Let’s cover each in kind.
