AI is great at one thing: Driving next waves of layoffs
- Reference: 1684437794
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/05/18/register_kettle_ai/
- Source link:
If it's not IBM [1]saying up to 30 percent of its back-office jobs – around 7,800 roles – could be replaced by machine-learning tools, as well as [2]offering the technology to facilitate that sort of thing at other organizations, it's telecoms giant BT [3]ditching 55,000 workers and embracing generative AI. There are plenty of similar examples. As The Next Platform [4]put it , AI is coming in through your front door to get to your back office.
And that's on top of chatty AI being infused into everything, from [5]Microsoft Office apps and Google's [6]empire to Cloudflare's [7]developer cloud .
[8]
Are you knowingly or unknowingly training the AI that will replace you? Why are some corporations dashing to dump workers for chatbots? Does the technology even work? It's funny how there isn't a ChatCFO. What lies next, and what will machine learning bring to your organization? We tackle this in our latest Register Kettle podcast, below.
Clockwise from top left in the thumbnail, we have Chris Williams, Tobias Mann, Thomas Claburn, and regular host Iain Thomson.
It's not all doom and gloom. Some AI tech is impressive, though some systems just screw up or are used for the wrong tasks. These are very early days. Models are improving; the situation can't be ignored. ®
Get our [9]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/02/ibm_ai_back_office_jobs/
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/09/ibm_launches_watsonx/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/bt_redundancies_2030/
[4] https://www.nextplatform.com/2023/05/17/ai-is-coming-in-the-front-door-to-get-the-back-office/
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/10/microsoft_copilot_ai/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/11/google_io_2023_developers/
[7] https://devclass.com/2023/05/16/cloudflare-adds-ai-services-as-cto-says-a-developer-platform-without-ai-is-little-use/
[8] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_software/aiml&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZGagA12qy4KnRAHVEiLSowAAAAU&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[9] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Lemmings?
Have to wonder whether this is the typical (but apocryphal) suicidal behaviour of lemmings?
Woudn't be such a bad out outcome if a slew of very large corporations swallowed this poison pill and slowly disintegrated into into smaller more (customer and employee) focussed businesses.
Anyone compelled to deal with the likes of IBM, Oracle or Microsoft etc etc is just as demented if they can claim its is a pleasure.
I also wonder whether this lunacy is mostly restricted to North America or perhaps is just an anglospheric affliction. I would be interested comparing this insanity with what European (say German, Dutch) enterprises are doing with ML.
[Remember to observe "The Glorious 25th" next week. If you are fine with the current bumper crop of demented tyrants then its also apparently (a?) Geek Pride Day or Towel Day.]
Re: Lemmings?
Henry Ford, no socialist** himself, remarked about the production line for Model T cars that the products of a production line have to be affordable to those people working on the line for it to work. This appears to be the fundamental problem with all of these 'reduce headcount at all costs' mindslet --- one person's headcount is another person's customer (potentially your customer).
(**Quite the opposite -- he was quite enamored of Herr Hitler.)
Obvious choice
Majority Shareholders to AI: Create a business plan that will increase turnover by 10% annually utilizing existing workforce.
AI responds: here you go.
Shareholder To Board : Your all fired.
Seems fair.