The whole discussion of AI is one of the most weird and warped conversations in popular culture.
So many people seem to be so worried about the emergence of a superior generalised intelligence, a thing so utterly implausible and distant at the moment, while they remain completely oblivious to the current steady emergence of specialised AI.
So much of the workforce is set to be replaced by AI in the immediate future, it will be completely disruptive. And while the immediate and most visible job losses may be in fields like transportation, few jobs are really immune, think of all the graphics analysis algorithms being applied to design for instance. My phone can enhance a photograph at least as well as I can, and that used to be a marketable skill I had with specialised software 10 years ago. We might even see an improvement in journalistic standards with some decent AI applied to copy editing…
I can really only see two paths ahead, one where there is a basic minimum wage and people are allowed to pursue lives of leisure, and one where almost all wealth is concentrated at the top, and many of us live in poverty kept in check by an iron fist.
I see no political will for the former outcome at all.
