The Robot Aftermath

I remember seeing a post online, joking that if everyone on Earth were to just instantaneously disappear, comment sections everywhere would still be full of activity with armies of bots arguing with other bots over politics and vaccines.

Similarly, have you seen the video where someone had setup an infinite loop conversation between the Amazon Alexa, Google Home, and Apple HomePod?

Did you know it’s now possible to setup a fantasy football league where you let the computer auto-draft your players, auto-set your lineup, and automatically pick up free agents? If all 10-12 teams in the league do this, you’d be able to completely automate the entire season. Wow, such fun for everyone! Alternatively, what’s the point?

And get this…I just saw this TikTok about DAN, a really safe and well-thought out idea involving the ChatGPT AI that will definitely not result in the AI becoming sentient and destroying the world.

So, I guess my question for you today is: what will we do after the robots completely take over?

Bots, AI, and the Humans who build them

Simple bots have been with us for a while now. I remember building a simple bot back in 2010 that pulled in job listings from online job posting sites which were then published to a Twitter account. It was simple and useful.

No big deal. No serious implications.

Go back a few years ago, and voice assistants and search were all the rage. Now you could play music, get the weather, convert tablespoons to cups, and run various automations in your home. These systems could interpret your voice and do some pretty rudimentary stuff.

Many of these tools made our lives marginally easier by supplementing our lives, and removing some of the steps.

Within the last year, the tools available to us have gotten a lot more advanced, and the use-cases are progressing at a pace that far exceeds what we’re ready to adapt to.

When Robots Join Your Team

At my productivity consultancy, Super Productive, we have a saying:

“If you do it 3 times or more, it should be a template or an automation.”

At my automation consultancy, Super Automated, we build many of those automations in order to free our clients up from doing repetitive tasks (e.g “bullshit tasks”). In both circumstances, we are committed to freeing up people’s time so they can focus on more creative and fulfilling tasks, rather than administrative or basic foundational tasks within each department. Recently, we’ve started to incorporate AI into that process.

ChatGPT, MidJourney, Jasper, and whatever new AI tool came out in the last 8 minutes are dramatically reshaping what the present looks like. In fact, many of your favorite tools may now have a built-in AI.

Notion, a tool I use for almost everything, just granted me access to their new AI tool giving me the ability to summarize, explain, lengthen, shorten, fix spelling and grammar or even change the tone of my writing.

Because Zapier has an integration with OpenAI, the makers of ChatCPT, nearly 5,000 applications now have the ability to interface with a highly advanced AI. In no time at all, I was able to create an integration with ChatGPT where I can create outlines for blog post ideas, write meta-descriptions, or even write entire articles with the click of a button.

These sorts of tasks place the robots closer and closer to the domain that used to be exclusively reserved for human beings. Many of the articles and outlines produced by ChatGPT are good enough to pass as written by humans, in certain circumstances. But how long until AI can write articles as good or better than the majority of us, in 95% of circumstances?

What then? What comes next?

When Robots Replace Your Team…And YOU

Look at this tool I just found called GPTBoss that claims to be able to replace an entire team of people by offering various narrowly focused AI that can create marketing strategy, answer operational questions, or clean up code.

How well this tool can replace well-qualified human beings is debatable. But what is almost beyond debate is that at least some people will be replaced by AI in the coming years.

• Many copywriters, SEOs, and Social Media teams will be supplemented or replaced by AI.
• The same will happen to some photographers, videographers or designers.
• Developers will also struggle to compete with systems that natively speak in code.

I don’t believe we’re likely to see all jobs replaced by AI in the near future. If that happens, the way things are going we would inevitably find ourselves watching brand bots marketing to customer bots on Facebook (I refuse to call them Meta) while unemployment and poverty skyrocket causing society to completely collapse into chaos. Either that, or we fundamentally reshape the world to experience fully automated luxury communism.

But even if ALL jobs aren’t replaced by AI, we already have over 120 million people in the United States living paycheck to paycheck. Too many people in the United States, and even more around the world, cannot afford enough of the basic necessities like food, clothing, shelter, and healthcare. Access to clean drinking water will become even more rare, and both climate change and biodiversity collapse are looming on the horizon and showing up with each unprecedentedly severe weather event. So with society already teetering on the edge, what is our plan for the various people displaced by these new, powerful AI tools?

I don’t have answers for you, just questions.

But, here’s what the AI thinks (and I’m not sure I could’ve said it better).

In conclusion, the rise of AI and automation has the potential to exacerbate existing economic and social inequalities. It’s crucial that we address the issue of job displacement proactively, by investing in education and job training programs that equip people with the skills they need to succeed in the new economy. Additionally, policies that provide a safety net for workers, such as a universal basic income, can help ensure that no one is left behind as AI continues to advance. Furthermore, addressing the underlying social and economic factors that contribute to poverty, such as income inequality and lack of access to quality healthcare, must also be a priority. It is only by working together to address these challenges that we can build a future that is equitable and sustainable for all.

The advancement of artificial intelligence and automation also has the potential to revolutionize many aspects of life. From handling mundane tasks to performing complex ones, AI is poised to make a significant impact on how we live and work. However, as AI continues to infiltrate more areas of our lives, it raises important questions about the future of humanity. What will we do when much of the work currently performed by people is automated? How will we adapt to a world where even creative tasks like marketing and writing are done by machines?

The future of humanity will depend on how we respond to these challenges. We must embrace the opportunities that AI presents while also considering its implications. This means that we must work together to ensure that the benefits of AI are shared equitably and that everyone has access to the skills and resources they need to thrive in the age of automation. Ultimately, our success in this new world will depend on our ability to stay ahead of the curve, to adapt and evolve with the times, and to make the most of the unique strengths that only humans possess.

Written by ChatGPT

Good robot 🤖

Note: All images in this post were created by Midjourney AI