We’re living a revolution. Artificial intelligence is (at last) making its way into our lives, creating a lot of amazement but also a lot of concern.

Seeing how machine learning models become part of our everyday and working lives fills me with pride — being part of this world makes me feel at the center of the innovation and opportunities that are being created.

However, this emergence of innovation not only arouses amazement and admiration, but also anxiety and concern.

I have noticed that these concerns mainly originate from those people who do not work in the data analysis and machine learning sector, but who do jobs that models like ChatGPT can “easily” replace.

Some examples of these jobs can be:

• data entry

• customer support

• editorial content creation

and more.

This is a tweet that received a lot of engagement last month which reports according to ChatGPT itself, which jobs are at risk of being replaced

Such a tweet can be startling and troubling if you read your own work on that list.

In this article, I will limit my observations to individuals who feel threatened by AI.

I read of colleagues writing articles and tweets explaining that there is nothing to fear from AIs like ChatGPT. In my opinion, however, there is a need to raise awareness not so much towards artificial intelligence, but towards the work we do every day.

The reality of the facts is that the concern is partially justified*, especially for a small group of people who have never used simple automation systems.*

The keyword is automation, and I will try to explain why the problem is not AI, but the lack of alternatives that we impose on our daily work routine.

It’s easy to worry… now that there is AI

The question I would like to ask the concerned reader is this

Have you ever felt worried that your work might be replaced before the advent of ChatGPT?

I know it’s a provocative question, but I ask the reader to be patient for a moment.

ChatGPT has started a collective movement to become aware of one’s work vulnerability.

But the reality of the facts is that we (everyone, without exception) can always be replaced at some level by an automation system.

ChatGPT brought this to the surface, but in reality, every employer and entrepreneur knows what I’m talking about. Awareness now belongs to everyone, not just those who pay the salary.

Anyone who owns a business and pays suppliers and employees always thinks in terms of convenience and time.

Questions like

• what’s the price?

• how much time does it take me?

• How much can I pay someone while making a profit?

• How much value does this activity provide?

and many more, are always on the mind of the attentive and dedicated entrepreneur.

AI encompasses both time and economic dimensions (and many others) and is therefore the obvious solution to equally obvious problems.

So it’s easy to be worried now. ChatGPT has awakened that dormant awareness in the worker who spends his hours on tasks that can be automated, but which for some reason, does not automate (or at least not completely).

The psychologist in me emerges: awareness is still a good thing for our brain — it represents the beginning of a path of re-education and realignment towards our true goals.

The legendary “automation”

Programmers and data scientists (especially) are constantly thinking about how to automate everyday tasks.

While programmers (I know it’s a very generic term, but I use it with intent) create entire systems to automate sets of tasks, data scientists and machine learning experts specialize in automating individual tasks, also putting systems together brick after brick.

Datasets are created, models are trained, just in order to solve one of the crucial problems in the large system set up by the developers.

As I’ve written in the past, data scientists are automation enablers. Our profession forces us to want to automate what has always been thought to be non-automatable according to the “classic” development paradigms.

Just think of transformers — extremely powerful models capable of satisfying a large multitude of tasks, such as creating abstracts from a set of texts or generating text starting from an input sentence.

Where am I getting at? That there is little technical knowledge, and this knowledge is at the root of the fear that AI instills, especially in Italy where I reside.

I’ll give you an example:

ChatGPT is very useful for a developer, junior or senior. It helps to find errors in the code, reorganize it and provide useful ideas for completing functions. Think of Copilot, the Microsoft tool that assists the programmer to write code. I use it all the time, and it’s a godsend.

Never once did I feel threatened by Copilot’s presence

The reason is because they are a tool in my hands that helps my productivity: while before it could take me 3 hours to complete my task, now it takes me 1. For me it’s always a win.

Why doesn’t this confidence also extend to other professionals working in different fields?

Here are some reasons:

• because they are not developers, and therefore there is no automation-oriented mindset

• they suffer from social pressure: hearing and seeing others worry generates worry in turn

• cognitive biases, such as the confirmation bias, which leverage negative thoughts already present about one’s work

And many others.

If you, the reader, find yourself in one of these points, fear not. In my opinion, the situation is not as gloomy as social networks make it out to be.

Quite the opposite in fact.

The problem is not the AI, but the way we work

Like all big news that become part of the lives of the majority and impacts multiple aspects of life, there will always be a group of people resistant to change. It’s normal.

You need to have a critical sense and mental lucidity to judge the situation and our position on it.

This is the central theme of this article

AI is a catalyst. The problem is at the core. If we now think we’re potentially replaceable across a range of tasks, then we’ve been that way for years. The difference is that only now we realize it.

We have to thank the AI for making us aware of this.

I integrate myself into the discussion, even if I work in the sector: we have to change the way we work.

We must abandon low-value work and train ourselves to fulfill high-value jobs.

I go so far as to say this because, to date, the value that AI offers is high, but because it automates a variety of micro-tasks that save time and money.

However, AI does not automate creativity, idea generation or strategic processes. These processes are completely human, and require reasoning and information retrieval mechanisms that AI cannot perform today.

If you think using Midjourney is automated creativity, I disagree.

My view is that we need to get out of the comfort zone and push towards bigger goals.

• Do we want to quit and open our own business? Let’s do it.

• Do we want to ask for a raise and take on responsibilities we think we can’t handle? Let’s do it

• Do we have the desire to change jobs and train from scratch? Let’s think about it seriously.

I’ve personally been drawn into arguments like this recently, and I know it’s not easy. But I guarantee that getting started is the hardest part — with enough dedication and persistence the goals are achieved, almost always.

Whether it’s an educational, professional or personal goal, let’s not spend our time doing low-value work — let’s leave that to the AI, as it should be.

Let’s treat AI like a tool in our hands. Let’s use it and improve our life thanks to it.

A revolution that is also creative and of well-being

I conclude this flow of thought with a sort of anticipation of what the future will be like for me.

As the models improve, so will the time we have to dedicate to what we love, to our passions.

By working less on operative tasks, we will be more able to concentrate on tasks relevant to our business and to our person.

We will have more time for ourselves, for creative and sporting activities. On a professional level instead, we will be able to focus on strategic and creative activities.

This is already partially happening now, with “simple” models like ChatGPT. I say simple because the field is moving fast and you can already see big improvements between GPT-3.5 and 4, the models that power the conversational bot. All of this happened in a matter of months, not years.

The future will be increasingly automated. We need to understand this as soon as possible. It’s up to us to adapt accordingly and embark on professional and personal paths that take advantage of this automation.

The innovation is based on machine learning. No field will affect future years more than this one.

We will see domestic robots with whom we will converse as if they were companions, and interfaces that will require less and less physical intervention (NeuraLink, for reference). All this is undeniable — it’s only a matter of time.

We have to understand that the future we’ve always seen in movies is here, and it’s only just beginning.

If we don’t, the consequences are our own.