Gen Z grads say their college degrees were a waste of time and money as AI infiltrates the workplace
Four years of classes, thousands of dollars in tuition and one freshly minted diploma — all to be outdone by a chatbot.
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Not that it doesn't happen here and there, but AI isn't taking the vast numbers of jobs many people think. I use AI professionally and personally a lot. The only things that really impress me are the things I have zero ability in at all: drawing character sketches of my roleplaying characters, composing music, and telling people to go fuck themselves in a professional manner.
The code is garbage. The prose is garbage. Lyrics/poetry are garbage (occasionally entertainingly so). And the longer the prompt/response chain gets the worse the output becomes—AI literally gets dumber the harder you try to get good quality out.
I think AI is amazing, in that it is barely competent to mediocre at damn near any basic knowledge task (presuming you can trust it not to hallucinate). But it's not an expert at anything.
What it can do is generate a first draft of something incredibly quickly, but it will always need a human hand to make it good. And based on my observations, the folks who say that's just today and in ten years no one will need to work—are simply wrong. Time will tell, but this technology seems to get exponentially more expensive for diminishing returns on quality.
The only things that really impress me are the things I have zero ability in at all: drawing character sketches of my roleplaying characters, composing music...
Do you suppose that is the result of Gell-Mann Amneisa?
You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues... and then turn the page to national or international affairs, and read as if the rest of the newspaper was somehow more accurate about Palestine than the baloney you just read. You turn the page, and forget what you know.
You know how to program, so you know the AI sucks at programming. You know it sucks at poetry, synthesis research, etc etc. You don't know how to draw, but do you suppose the AI is good at drawing?
You don't know how to draw, but do you suppose the AI is good at drawing?
Absolutely not! That was kinda the point of what I said. It only amazes when you are operating in ignorance.
100% agreed with you there, hope I didn't come across as argumentative.
I think Dan Olson said he saw people "praying" to ChatGPT, and I can't think of a better analogy for it.
There’s something about the internet, isn’t there? It encourages us to presume discord when we come to the same point in two different ways. I’ll take full credit for misunderstanding your agreement and interpreting it uncharitably. I need to resist that instinct. Cheers, mate!
I know what you mean. I don't remember always feeling so defensive on the internet lol. I think that feeling it's a function of societal divisions.