People's underestimation of AI
I can&#x27;t be alone in thinking this recent &quot;robots are talking all the unskilled jobs&quot; meme is a bit overblown. It feels premature, at best.<p>I&#x27;m skeptical about the robotic lawyer and pharmacist use cases the article calls out. These seem like really distant applications--nothing I gather we&#x27;ll see in the next decade, anyway. I have a friend going to pharmacy school, and I wouldn&#x27;t think to warn her about her career choice just yet. Mistakes in these fields simply cost too much.<p>What other careers are at immediate risk? How big of a working population will be put out of work?<p>I imagine trucking and freight is the industry most immediately at risk.<p>Autonomous vehicles are impressive, but there are so many social problems arising from failure modes we&#x27;ve yet to answer. I&#x27;m imagining the first fatal accident arising from an autonomous truck--the press will jump on automation like vultures. The lawsuits will be huge. I can&#x27;t imagine the court of public opinion being kind to the shipping company whose machine kills an unsuspecting family on vacation.<p>I realize that doesn&#x27;t prevent automation from happening, but I think it could bring any rollout to an immediate halt.<p>And though it&#x27;s getting a bit off topic, I feel like the &quot;no more car ownership&quot; meme is utter hyperbole. I would be willing to bet money that private car ownership will continue to be a thing for a long time. How much would an hour and a half long Uber commute cost to make every day for workers living in a city without sufficient public transit, such as Atlanta? Are people that live or travel to rural areas going to participate in ride sharing? Increasing remote work and better housing options seem like they will be more pragmatic solutions to the plague of the commute.<p>As much as I&#x27;d like to see increased efficiency through AI and automation, it still seems much too early to count humans out. I guess I&#x27;ll eat my words when I see it.