AI can do the hard work for us and let us concentrate on living

Colin Robertson

HAD a tough day at work? Don’t worry, very soon you won’t have to bother going in, or “working from home” if you’re one of those lazy bs.

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Elon Musk said that artificial intelligence will step in and do most jobs for us
Elon Musk said that artificial intelligence will step in and do most jobs for us Credit: Getty
However, no AI technology can replicate feeling things as it's what makes us human
However, no AI technology can replicate feeling things as it’s what makes us human Credit: Getty

According to Elon Musk, we’re not far off a world where work being done by humans becomes a thing of the past.

The reigning world’s richest man told an audience at the Cannes Lions Festival on Wednesday that artificial intelligence will step in and do most jobs for us.

Speaking at the annual gathering of well-fed advertising types, he declared of AI: “I think the most likely outcome is one of abundance, where goods and services are available to anyone.

“There’s no shortage for any one of us. It would be a universal hike. Work would be optional.”

Now if that isn’t music to the ears then I don’t know what is. No more waking up at stupid o’clock to bust your balls for eight hours in order to make just enough money for your kids to waste on Fortnite V-Bucks or loom bands.

An abundance of goods — have what you want when you want it. Yes please, I opt for: Do bugger all.

But wait. This lazy utopia is not guaranteed, Musk confessed.

Oh no. There is the small matter that before we get there, AI may get a little carried away with itself and . . . annihilate humanity. The likelihood of this happening is somewhere between ten and 20 per cent, the Tesla chief posited.

He confessed: “I tend to agree with Geoff Hinton — one of the godfathers of AI — and he thinks there’s a ten to 20 per cent probability of something terrible happening.” Something terrible? Good grief.

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Apparently not. That’s the thing about AI. It mimics — and tries to predict — how its human creators behave. And let’s face it, we behave pretty badly.

To take just one example. Don’t like your neighbour? Slaughter the population and then annex every town or city you’ve reduced to rubble.

Musk, ever the madman, says he quite fancies being around to watch the planet burn if this scenario proves to be the endgame.

He chuckled at Cannes: “Would I want to be around to see it? Probably, yes.”

Personally, I’d rather sit that one out.

No, I’m going to hold on for the 80 per cent chance that AI will make life better for me and allow me to slob about in my garden, scrolling my phone and ordering pizzas . . . with my mind (probably).

But hang on, that carries its own problems too, Musk reckons.

Despite saying we should “look on the bright side”, he admitted: “If AI can do everything you can do but better, what’s the point of doing things? I think there will be an existential crisis.”

That certainly seems to be the direction of travel if you look at some depictions of the future.

Source: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/28636402/colin-robertson-ai-jobs/