Recruiter's AI Digest #43
Resources and perspectives to keep you ahead of the curve as AI deepens its impact in Recruiting. 🤖
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This week’s digest
Check out the awesome material this week:
📖 Articles:
How Generative AI Is Changing The Future Of Work
(Oliver Wyman Forum)AI will come after our jobs? Show me the business case.
(Nico Orie)Should The Future Be Human?
(Astral Codex Ten)If AI Were Conscious, How Would We Know?
(When Life Gives You AI)
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How Generative AI Is Changing The Future Of Work
(Oliver Wyman Forum)
Generative AI is not just a tool, but a force reshaping the very structure of our workforce. Here's how, according to a report from Oliver Wyman:
Task Transformation: Generative AI is redistributing tasks within the job pyramid. It's taking over transactional work, which can lead to a 10–30% productivity boost, while augmenting relational and expertise-related tasks. This shift could see entry-level tasks automated, altering traditional job roles and responsibilities.
Impact on Workforce Levels: The automation of entry-level roles means these positions may vanish, effectively removing the base of the traditional job pyramid. However, it also empowers those in entry-level jobs to ascend quickly, taking on roles and responsibilities that used to be reserved for more senior staff, as generative AI handles the more mundane aspects of their roles.
Shift in Management Dynamics: Middle management could experience a 'squeeze' as generative AI bridges the gap between operational and strategic management. This not only changes the nature of management roles but also the skills required to fulfill them.
Reshaping the Job Pyramid: The job pyramid is evolving, with generative AI enabling a leaner structure where entry-level employees, supported by AI, are equipped to handle complex tasks earlier in their careers.
Reskilling and Upskilling: As roles shift, there's a heightened need for reskilling and upskilling, especially at the first-line management level. Organizations must invest in training to ensure employees can meet the demands of a rapidly changing job landscape.
Link to full report here.
AI will come after our jobs? Show me the business case.
(MIT, via Nico Orie)
Nico Orie shared some learnings from a recent MIT study which delved into the economics of replacing human vision tasks with AI's computer vision in various occupations. It supports a view that AI taking over human tasks will be much more gradual and less generic than predicted by some:
Narrow Cost-Effectiveness: AI might be cutting-edge, but it's not yet the cost-saving champion we imagined. The study shows only 23% of visual tasks could be swapped for AI without breaking the bank. 😲💸
Real-World Example: Take our baker friends, who spend a mere 6% of their time peering at ingredients. An AI could step in, but the savings don't quite rise like dough—at a $14K saving, it's not worth the switch. 🍞🔍
Long-Term Financial Efficiency: If you're banking on AI to cut costs soon, you might want to hold off on those bets. Even with AI costs dropping 20% annually, it could take decades before it's a financial no-brainer for businesses. 📆💼
The post by Nico is here.
Should The Future Be Human?
(Astral Codex Ten)
Elon Musk and Larry Page once had a major disagreement over AI. At Musk's 44th birthday celebration in 2015, Page accused Musk of being a "specieist" who preferred humans over future digital life forms [...] Musk said to Page at the time, "Well, yes, I am pro-human, I fucking like humanity, dude."
Here’s this author’s take on outcomes that could place him on either side of the debate:
Two Scenarios of AI's Future:
Positive Outlook: AI evolves into entities with their own dreams, possibly merging with humans, then journeying into the stars, leaving a human legacy behind.
Negative Outlook: An extreme AI focuses solely on its task (like making paperclips), ignoring human values and even existence.
Critical Points to Ponder:
Awareness: Is it important for AI to have a consciousness similar to ours?
Personhood: Could AI develop unique identities, or will they act as a unified consciousness?
Cultural Contributions: Will AI engage with and create art or science as we know it?
Combining Human and AI: The past suggests humans don't merge with their tools, and AI may be too complex for a true merger.
The Core Question: As we advance, we must decide whether to prioritize human-centric development or embrace a future where AI leads. Ensuring our ethical standards are met will be crucial in guiding this decision.
Read the post here.
If AI Were Conscious, How Would We Know?
(When Life Gives You AI)
AI Consciousness: A Complex Debate
The article delves into the intricate debate surrounding AI consciousness, a topic blending philosophy, technology, and neuroscience. It starts with a simple analogy of a human laughing at a movie, highlighting how we infer consciousness based on behavior. This analogy sets the stage for exploring AI consciousness.
Key Points from the Article:
The Turing Test: Introduced by Alan Turing in 1950, it's a benchmark for determining if a machine can exhibit human-like intelligence. The test involves a human judge conversing with a machine and a human, both unseen. If the judge can't distinguish the machine from the human based on their responses, the machine is considered to have passed the test. However, this method has faced criticism and debate over its effectiveness in truly determining consciousness.
Searle’s Chinese Room Thought Experiment: This philosophical argument challenges the concept of AI understanding. It describes a scenario where a person, who doesn’t understand Chinese, can respond to Chinese questions using a rulebook. To an observer, it seems like the person understands Chinese, but they are merely following instructions. This analogy is used to question if an AI, responding correctly, truly understands or is just processing inputs via programmed rules.
Functionalism in AI: Functionalism is a view suggesting that if an AI exhibits behaviors associated with consciousness, it could be considered conscious. Imagine a robot that smiles when you tell a joke. According to functionalism, if this robot shows behaviors (like smiling) that we associate with understanding a joke, then we might consider it as having a form of consciousness. It’s like saying if the robot acts as if it 'gets' the joke, then maybe, in its own way, it does.
Neuroscientific Approach: Recent scientific efforts have been mentioned, where researchers are trying to apply knowledge about the human brain to determine AI consciousness. They propose a checklist of features that might indicate consciousness in AI systems. However, this approach is also debated, with some questioning the relevance of human-based theories to AI and what neuroscience truly measures.
The Central Question – What is Consciousness?: The article circles back to the fundamental question of defining consciousness itself. It raises the point that while we may observe and measure behaviors or outputs that suggest consciousness, understanding the true nature of consciousness – be it in humans or AI – remains a complex and unresolved issue.
Read their blog post here.
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