Ask HN: What are your plans for the AI future?

2 pointsMisterTea6d ago7 comments

With AI ever increasing in ability I have been thinking about not only my future but the future for all of us involved in the tech sector and beyond. So I have to ask: what are your plans for the future when your job is obsoleted or devalued by AI?

I work in manufacturing and do a lot of physical work and troubleshooting. At first I felt confident that AI would not displace me any time soon. However, that changed after the former president walked around confidently asking AI every technical question we spent time working on, trying to see where it could augment engineering and maintenance. It failed mostly, but it made me realize that people want to replace me. I do see a future where many of my skills could be replaced by a random person receiving a detailed walk through from AI using an AR headset.

I feel that a lot of people today believe we are mostly fine. They feel AI isn't THAT good and there will still be a need for programmers and auto mechanics. However, there is no slow down in AI research and I don't want to hedge my bets on predictions that could evaporate in the next two or three major breakthroughs in AI technology. We already have walking robots. How much longer until the janitor is replaced by a mop wielding Tesla bot?

I don't have children yet but it gives me great pause when I think about the world they would be entering.

What are your thoughts and is anyone actively planning for the AI future?

7 comments

PaulHoule6d ago

I know I am not running around like a chicken with its head cut off which is what most online people are doing now.

MisterTeaOP6d ago

There is a lot of hand waving on both sides - some flailing about predicting the end of the world while the rest wave them off.

What I am looking for is actual thought put into the subject other than "meh."

PaulHoule6d ago

99% of the people who want to talk about this on HN, LinkedIn, elsewhere, don't know enough to have an opinion. I was trying to build that kind of system 10 years ago when the technology just wasn't ready and frankly I'm pretty offended by all the people who think if they can't get ChatGPT to write them 10 blog posts about what it all means in the next 30 seconds or they can enjoy being poor forever.

So to follow the midwit meme, I think "meh" is both the dimwit and genius answer, it is the midwit who is struggling and feels there just isn't enough distraction in the world about it and won't be comfortable unless they can create more.

oliculipolicula5d ago

m?-meh-tic PR?

"I'm glad the chicken brain is running around with its body cut-off"

To expand on the tease:

The pundits' (the chicken head: midwit and certified geniuses) panic could be diagnosed as counter-signalling. Those who have spent time in the trenches (the body; not your hypothetical automated bloggers doing market research with HN, not Karpathy who has ?illions in manager-cred) might be having the real attacks. Not constantly--- before bedtime.

And it is lower than 1%. Presumably you refer to those eudaimon-possessed scientist-engineers who are trying to

   Routinely do things that have never been done before

Like this one

https://youtu.be/6F8zK57Wa0A

Sorry-- my only excuse would be this half-baked thought

   some distractions are more focussing than others, some long term projects are more distracting than half-baked ideas.

Even in your one-liner I quoted above "things" are carrying the day just by virtue of having no qualifier attached to it besides "new"

Extending Koerner, a gram is worth more than a damn, but a damn can be worth more than a kilogram-- if you spread out the damn

What if Ron and you, _without_ refriending, worked out how easy it would be _to_ teach the rest of the 1% irascible (bc starving) artist-scientist-engineers how to overcome their ideological or genetic differences? Or ungrabbed uh non-opportunities that each has independently found and doubled down on fucking around with. You know, "fuck around and never finding out"

If you need 3 projects.. you don't need 3 projects. You might be Newton, but you're not a VC.

1 more reply

cs19966d ago

don't lean into fear, embrace AI. Become the best user of codex and claude code you can be. There is basically an unlimited amount of software that needs to be created. And unlimited jobs for humans that can help AI do that.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

7 comments

PaulHoule6d ago

I know I am not running around like a chicken with its head cut off which is what most online people are doing now.

MisterTeaOP6d ago

There is a lot of hand waving on both sides - some flailing about predicting the end of the world while the rest wave them off.

What I am looking for is actual thought put into the subject other than "meh."

PaulHoule6d ago

oliculipolicula5d ago

m?-meh-tic PR?

"I'm glad the chicken brain is running around with its body cut-off"

To expand on the tease:

And it is lower than 1%. Presumably you refer to those eudaimon-possessed scientist-engineers who are trying to

   Routinely do things that have never been done before

Like this one

https://youtu.be/6F8zK57Wa0A

Sorry-- my only excuse would be this half-baked thought

   some distractions are more focussing than others, some long term projects are more distracting than half-baked ideas.

Even in your one-liner I quoted above "things" are carrying the day just by virtue of having no qualifier attached to it besides "new"

Extending Koerner, a gram is worth more than a damn, but a damn can be worth more than a kilogram-- if you spread out the damn

If you need 3 projects.. you don't need 3 projects. You might be Newton, but you're not a VC.

1 more reply

cs19966d ago

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse