#ArtificialIntelligence #AI #jobs #technology #thinking
Artificial intelligence is, well, artificial.
Machines don’t think for themselves, but they can piece together information recorded from different sources to make sentences, and do other things, that make sense.
Many of us decided to do what we do for a career thinking that no machine would ever replace us.
But technology and media companies are cutting some of the human brain power that made their products what they are. The suspicion is that artificial intelligence (AI) will replace those tasks in the not-too-distant future.
In the old days when search engines were created, they could categorize data from similar entities and show users who, or what, they were looking for. But, search engines could not describe what a company does. It led to differences of opinion on “search engine optimization,” in which many people, and companies, specialized.
Did you want your company to stand out from your competition, or did you want your company to be lumped in with your, perhaps, inferior competitors? If you wanted the former, your Web content had to explain why your company is better, or, at least, different from the rest.
If you used key words in your content to satisfy the search engines, did those words just make you like everyone else that touches your space?
Because AI gathers, would you rather have a thinking human rather than a gathering and assembling machine?
Make no mistake: the gathering and assembling machine, undoubtedly, will be very useful for some tasks, and save companies lots of money.
But if you are in the business of creativity, there will be no substitute for human thinking in many areas.
Like humans, machines will make mistakes. Like humans, machines can put their talents to use in nefarious ways.
Therefore, it takes humans to know when a machine is most useful, and when a human is most useful.
We have to be on guard for unintended consequences of AI. Presuming we all want AI to do only good things that benefit mankind, we have to guard against the evil it could do – unless our intentions are indeed evil.
Of course, AI does not need R&R, as humans do from time to time. AI can be employed 24/7, as most humans cannot.
In short, it will take human innovation to not only create the AI that will replace some humans, but it also will require human supervision to guard against its pitfalls.
Most humans can adapt to a changing workplace. The jobs we were hired for years ago turn into completely different jobs as companies evolve and change.
It will take humans to help AI adapt to changing workplaces. Some of us humans will learn that AI perhaps can adjust to changing workplaces and conditions more quickly than some humans can.
Humans will create AI. They will maintain AI. They will manage AI. Still, when AI really takes off, there will be fewer humans needed. With jobs going unfilled in today’s marketplace, that could turn out to be a good thing.
Peter
Tag Archives: creativity
SOFT SKILLS? RATHER, CREATIVITY
#SoftSkills #education #creativity #boldness
“What I find missing (when college grads don’t land jobs) is any sense of creativity. If you are going to get something, you have to think about what is an interesting and bold way to get it.”
So says Ted Dintersmaith, a former venture capitalist turned education advocate. He was quoted throughout The Atlanta Journal-Constitution education columnist Maureen Downey’s June 11, 2018, column.
Downey writes that Dintersmith recalled how impressed he was with a young entrepreneur seeking to meet him. The student pleaded with Dintersmith’s assistant to allow him to sit in the office so he could grab a moment with Dintersmith as he walked to his car.
Dintersmith’s two decades as a venture capitalist brought him much success. He came to believe that success demanded both innovation and entrepreneurship.
In other words, if you go through channels to find an opportunity, you probably will not hear anything back. If you do something outside the box to get someone’s attention, that person might be impressed enough to hire you.
This type of thinking may differ greatly with what you’ve been taught since childhood. Remember your parents or other advisers telling you, “don’t make waves,” “do everything properly,” or, even, “do what you are told to do?”
Today’s society put value on wave-makers. Even if you are getting a W-2 job, with a set job description, you have to show some entrepreneurship in that role to get noticed, or get ahead.
Conduct yourself with the attitude of, it’s better to beg forgiveness than ask permission.
America must re-imagine education, Downey quotes Dintersmith, so millions of people aren’t stranded by an economy that prizes creativity, innovation and invention.
Of course, as a practical matter, we still need people toiling at tasks that require a set job description. It’s tough to think outside the box if you wait tables, wash dishes or do some other minimum-wage work. In that case, though, you’re creativity and innovation must come to the fore as you imagine yourself in the near future doing something other than what you are doing.
For students, the best path may be to give more meaning to a high school diploma by requiring students to work in real-life challenges, for an organization or community, Downey quotes Dintersmith. He has seen teachers doing this in places like North Dakota and Hawaii, she writes.
Schools will change, “one classroom at time by teacher-driven, well-thought-out small steps leading to big change,” Downey quotes Dintersmith.
Maybe you, today, are following your parents’ advice and cherishing the security of following a set of rules. But, perhaps, you long for something more.
If you are bold enough to look for something better, something that rewards your boldness, something that requires you to look at something completely different from what you thought you would do in life, there are many such vehicles out there. To check out one of the best, message me.
Otherwise, if you are doing something that bores you, that doesn’t reward you the way you think it should, or that eats away at too much of your life, look for a change. Perhaps not today, or tomorrow, but put a goal in front of you that says something like: I’m only going to do this for X years at most. Then, start looking for a change that will better suit you.
Remember, as Dintersmith advises, just sending a resume, or filling out an application, and waiting to hear something probably won’t cut it, no matter how impressive your qualifications are.
If the opportunity is worth pursuing, don’t hesitate to visit the employer and ask to see a person of influence. You may have to do some research to see who that is, but, in the process, you may actually meet someone who can formally introduce you.
Be bold. Be creative. Go after it!
Peter