AI & The Future Of Work + AI News From This Week

This week we will delve into the fascinating crossroads of AI and the future of work! I’m joined by ML Research Scientist Alex Papadopoulos Korfiatis and AI Startup Founder Rafie Faruq. Links: MacWhisper: ⁠https://goodsnooze.gumroad.com/l/macwhisper⁠ Whisper Transcription by OpenAI: ⁠https://openai.com/research/whisper⁠ Hinton leaves Google: ⁠https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/may/02/geoffrey-hinton-godfather-of-ai-quits-google-warns-dangers-of-machine-learning⁠ Google leaked document about open source LLMs: ⁠https://www.semianalysis.com/p/google-we-have-no-moat-and-neither⁠ Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models: ⁠https://imgur.com/a/qBDSYRv⁠ (Full paper: ⁠https://arxiv.org/pdf/2304.06123.pdf⁠) IBM to freeze hiring as CEO expects AI to replace 7,800 jobs: ⁠https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2023/5/3/ibm-to-freeze-hiring-as-ceo-expects-ai-to-replace-7800-jobs⁠ AI research chatbot which interviews people to learn about their views on upcoming elections: https://canvasbot.understood.chat We constrain this conversation to the technology available between today and no further ahead than 18 months. We discuss how and why creative-roles have been affected most so far, e.g. concept artists and writers. We discuss how democratizing access to AI will lower the barrier to entry for new applications, and how there is a huge underground open-source AI movement. We discuss roles such as Journalism which may be at least partially immune to these changes. We cover how LLMs can provide the median information on a subject today, but future models can easily have specific tilts or opinions. We cover open-source transcription tool MacWhisper vs paid silicon-valley startup sweetheart Otter.AI (powered by Google Speech to text) and how open-source is winning. Alex discusses AI for medical transcription in his previous role in Babylon Health, and how important AI safety is in this subject. This gets us on to high risk and expert roles - where you need responsibility and connection - and how they may be the last to really shift. We cover how with legal notes you don't have to be 100% correct, you just need to make logical arguments that are legally sound - so our job in creating an AI assisted legal services is easier than medical AI's job. The clerical parts of many roles will start to go in droves over the next 18 months, as many people hate this part of their job and it's easy for LLMs.