On Wednesday, my Close Personal Friend®, Gene Edward Veith, posted an article describing a recent report out of Microsoft Corporation, predicting which jobs are most threatened by Artificial Intelligence. Ed’s post is subscription only, but the report itself can be found here, if you care to read it. It includes the following list of endangered jobs, in order of endangerment:
- Interpreters and Translators
- Historians
- Passenger Attendants
- Sales Representatives of Services
- Writers and Authors
- Customer Service Representatives
- CNC Tool Programmers
- Telephone Operators
- Ticket Agents and Travel Clerks
- Broadcast Announcers and Radio DJs
- Brokerage Clerks
- Photographers
- Technical Writers
- Tour Guides
- Copy Editors and Proofreaders
- Librarians
- Museum Technicians
- Archivists
- Event Planners
- Public Relations Specialists
- Marketing Coordinators
- Social Media Managers
- Conference Coordinators
- Advertising Sales Agents
- Travel Agents
- Court Reporters
- Paralegals
- Insurance Underwriters
- Claims Adjusters
- Survey Researchers
- Market Research Analysts
- Fundraisers
- Grant Writers
- Instructional Coordinators
- Human Resources Specialists
- Compensation and Benefits Analysts
- Training and Development Specialists
- Executive Assistants
- Office Managers
- Data Entry Keyers
This will be, of course, a troubling list for many people. For me, it’s already kind of old news, as I, in my old gig, translation, (Number One on the list), have already been “made redundant,” as the English say.
Nowadays I find myself in sympathy with the legendary Ned Ludd, an English weaver who supposedly broke up a “knitting frame” because the technology threatened his traditional job. (In fact, his legend seems to be older, going back to a boy who was disciplined for sloppy work and smashed the machinery in a fit of pique. Later on, when mechanization arrived, the people opposed to innovation were labeled “Luddites.”)
A better hero for us enemies of progress would probably be John Henry, the hero of the folk ballad, who raced a job-threatening steam drill and beat it, but worked himself to death in the effort. I remember that even as a boy I viewed John Henry as emblematic of something that was going on in the world – little did I guess how high the stakes would get in my own lifetime.
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That list is full of itself, but it has led to my discovery that there are 14,000 Telephone Operators working in the U.S. today. Can’t imagine what they do, but if they help ppl make phone calls, then they fill a role that will never go away. b/c too many ppl don’t know how to do the thing and need someone to help them through it.
I don’t see transportation or self-driving cars on this list, and I’ve heard we really will see those on the streets in several years. And when one of them breaks down, who will go out to repair it?
My wife just drew my attention to a YouTube channel called Veterans Valor – which apparently went up on 23 June and has 77 videos already. The channel description, not least the disclaimer, are (to use that bland word) interesting. My wife had tried a couple when I came along and listened to the end of one imagining both a Battle of Midway vet’s and a young woman Navy Lieutenant’s experiences. It seems clearly a sort of AI ‘pulp fiction’ but I enjoyed it as such. My wife said the ones she tried were a lot alike – all about 20 minutes long, and very formulaic. Have you encountered anything like this – with accents on “empathy, gratitude, and deeper understanding” – and “bravery” and “quiet sacrifices”? (Somehow, having heard that C.S. Lewis was a sort of narrative omnivore and would read ‘Boys’ Own” sorts of stories while invigilating exams springs to mind!)
I have no doubt that AI can write a story that qualifies minimally as a story. The elements of story are no secret. I do doubt that it will ever — except by accident — tell a story worth reading.