For the past 40 years, economists, who frequently have tenured, guaranteed for life jobs, advocated for outsourcing/offshoring work and bringing in more immigrants to replace, what were mostly blue-collar workers.
Today, ChatGPT AI technology is seen poised to take jobs from spreadsheet jockeys, paper pushers, software white collar workers and news “reporters”. All of sudden, economists (and related in tech and media) think we need to hit a “pause” and temporarily stop AI development…
Researchers found that jobs in tech, finance, and communications are more exposed to the affects of AI than blue-collar jobs like manufacturing.
Source: ChatGPT Will Impact Educated, White-Collar Workers: Research
Interesting how they favored outsourcing blue-collar work while their own white-collar jobs were immune. Now, the tables have turned and the expert-class is having reservations.
Update: Oh my, Prof. Glenn Reynolds makes the same observation:
With a remarkable lack of sympathy, journalists and politicians told coal miners and auto workers that they should “learn to code” as their jobs vanished.
But it turns out that the people whose jobs are at the most risk from AI are, well, the coders. ChatGPT can write code, and sometimes it’s pretty good code.
The Coming “Symbolic Analyst” Meltdown (substack.com)
Also, so does Kyla Scanlon, who seems to have better insight and a willingness to express those insights well: AI Can’t Plant Corn (Yet) – by kyla scanlon (substack.com) (She may be young but she seems to have more common sense than the annointed “experts”).
