AI and the Paradox of Self-Replacing Workers | Madison Mohns

AI and the Paradox of Self-Replacing Workers | Madison Mohns | TED

Місяць тому

As companies introduce AI into the workplace to increase productivity, an uncomfortable paradox is emerging: people are often responsible for training the very systems that might displace them. AI ethics advocate Madison Mohns presents three leadership principles to embrace technological progress while prioritizing your coworkers' well-being - paving the way for a future where AI enhances human potential.
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КОМЕНТАРІ: 116

@janalgos Місяць тому

This talk could have been summarized in one sentence: "Let the AIs replace you, and help them replace others because you'll surely find something else to do once you're replaced"

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

That does seem to be what all the LLM people are saying, yet none of them have the vaguest of ideas as to what these miracle jobs might look like. "trust me bro" is the best they can come up with.

@Ryan-_-Kim Місяць тому

It sucks, but we have to admit at some point. The technology has been invented and no one can stop the evolution. Just like when the steam engine comes out to the world. The new technologies can make many people losing their jobs, but after, we will have a better life. At least for our next generation…

@elianes5505 16 днів тому

Wow, what a horrible conclusion. But it's unfortunately true, under capitalism at least.

@petthepizza Місяць тому

The problem has never been technological innovation but rather who benefits from those innovations. Under our current organization of the economy, such innovations will always be used to displace workers in order to decrease wage related expenses and increase profits. This serves to overall stifle the desire to pursue innovation because it always comes with the implication that it will replace workers. The economy needs to be reorganized in a way where workers have more say in all aspects of the enterprise, whether it be through unions, co-ops, etc.

@tehdii Місяць тому

I can not stress how I agree with you completely. The problem is not in our ability to recognize the systems we are in, we can be endlessly verbal about them and so what... I have a saying: From 4k years we have written everything about decency, From Chinese thinkers to Plato to Hitch and Zizek to be comically terse. DFW gave it a mighty whack...and what have change exactly at the top of power structures/ religious structures? We are bombarded every day that this leader is a pedophile, that leader is a war lord, that one is a liar, in every sphere of activity... We are fucked and no amount of speaking about it will change anything for us at the bottom...

@garcipat Місяць тому

I would say that in the end we all should benefitntnhe end. The question is at what cost and how many people will go under during this big change. If this technology will really change society on sereral levels how the industrial revolution did, we all will be affected.

@gregbors8364 Місяць тому

Look at “futurist” videos from the 1950’s, predicting an utopian future where everyone would have their needs taken care of with only a ten-hour workweek because of automation. Of course, that didn’t happen, but a lot of people ended up with zero-hour workweeks due to automation, with corresponding zero-dollar paychecks.

@growingrobin Місяць тому

Somehow this format feels more like a sales pitch than a TED talk…

@realisticrae6946 Місяць тому

Really down playing AI capabilities. Corporate greed doesn't care about saving a position for you. Add that with AI, which doesn't have needs or compassion.

@closerrl9851 Місяць тому

Yeah I was like she is downplaying what AI can do NOW. Not talking about what it will do 2 years from now. The title should be: How to manage your teams anxiety and possibly keep them a bit longer.

@claireconover Місяць тому

ai is cheap… workers are expensive.

@Betweoxwitegan Місяць тому

@@closerrl9851Ai is dogshit right now, it is not yet a disruptor and just minimizes repetitive inefficiencies, in like 10 years it will be very good though.

@Axeom Місяць тому

100%. And once every other team has their AI capabilities up and running, you have a network that'll replace everyone - all you need then is a few to keep them running and some others to upgrade. No company has any interest other than its bottom line - that includes "additional training" for employees. Asking for transparency on AI at this juncture is like asking congress to pass a bill.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

@@Betweoxwitegan It's already replacing jobs, right now. These changes are happening. right. now. Maybe not in your workplace, but certainly in others.

@raphaelzep Місяць тому

"I get to go to my trusted team, who i've worked with for years, look them in the eyes and pitch them on training the very systems that might displace them."

@hmanning428 Місяць тому

That part....

@gregbors8364 Місяць тому

I recommend Michael Moore’s first movie, “Roger & Me,” in which Detroit auto workers are introduced via corporate propaganda to their “buddies” - the robots that would soon replace them on the assembly lines.

@djdedan Місяць тому

Funny how they never offer up AI replacing management. You know the one occupation that should literally be data driven. Anyway just a thought, have a nice day.

@justinklenk Місяць тому

There was a curious old black-and-white episode of The Twilight Zone about that happening at a factory... Eventually the president himself was also deemed obsolete.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

Eventually they'll run out of people to replace and start cannibalising themselves.

@SJ-vc2tz Місяць тому

@@justinklenk Eventually implies the president is replaced last, why not first?

@justinklenk Місяць тому

@@SJ-vc2tz Because, human power structure. 👍

@garcipat Місяць тому

This is not a paradox but a dilemma.

@bridgerdyck387 Місяць тому

It is a little bit of a paradox. Because people want to have jobs, but they also want to be innovative and improve. Can't have both without sacrificing the other; thus a paradox. A dilemma would be more along the lines of desiring x but y is getting in the way. Often to do with ethical issues, like slavery. If the employer uses slaves, they would have a better bottom line, however they'd be morally bankrupting themselves while doing so.

@justinklenk Місяць тому

@@bridgerdyck387 I appreciated the point of that rebuttal, but I do believe he was correct in his distinction, there - this IS a moral/ethical dilemma, for us, going forward, which we must address rationally, intelligently, humanely - whereas a paradox is where there are 2 (seemingly) mutually-exclusive things that are, mysteriously, somehow yet true at the same time. So training an AI at the cost of your own resulting obsolescence is actually not paradoxical at all - one actually results in the other. But to do so becomes a human quandary - this whole issue of how to then continue to keep everyone both receiving an income; and active + involved in their own society; and having the self-esteem and sense of personal value that exists with actually _being_ of value. 👍

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

Yeah there's no paradox here, but people will do mental backflips to avoid addressing moral dilemma's "i was just doing my job!" when they know they are wrong.

@salasart Місяць тому

Sadly I don't think tech bros are thinking about what they SHOULD do, instead they are focused on how much they COULD or CAN do

@joewilder Місяць тому

Perhaps the way to solve the problems is to give everyone equity in the company. That way, even if people are replaced, they end up with greater rewards.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

Companies usually take the route of reducing costs over finding ways to utilize what they have better, as it's a simpler process. Why let people work less hours to do the same amount of work when you can force less employees to do even MORE work because they are under more threat of unemployment? It's a downward spiral that corporations cannot resolve as they have no interest in resolving it, quite the opposite. The only way things will improve is if institutional changes force them to. Good luck with that as long as the Corporations pull the strings on governments. These companies will not invest a single cent in retraining/repurposing the people they discard and its getting really tiresome hearing these ivory tower people from silicon valley who are willfully ignorant of how the world works and how people (especially those in power) work.

@ChrisBarringer Місяць тому

“Arxhitects of our own progress “ and in turn architect’s of our own demise

@michaelnelson7240 Місяць тому

When they say don’t worry about it , you should be worried . They just want an easy transition you out replacement in less work for them if your doing your own job elimination

@Tsukikira51 Місяць тому

It's a decent talk, but the real paradox is that modern US companies won't care about training people to take on the new jobs, so what we will see is a mass layoffs, followed by years of companies' complaining about labor shortages, while those with enough money take night classes to retrain for the new positions and those without money just starve and lose everything.

@mikebrough3434 Місяць тому

Re-skilling might allow you to hang on to 25% of your current team but that's an example of the law of diminishing returns. And what about the other 75%?

@mudgetheexpendable Місяць тому

Tax the AI jbs at 500% of ten times the salaries of displaced workers. Then use the taxes for UBI.

@piku5637 Місяць тому

We desperately need a worker/consumer co-op economy and strong unions.

@L117music Місяць тому

The main problem is that tech, AI and Robotics will kill the economy by making bussiness and the economy to become stagnant because the very few have a jobs and a large part of society will have no the money and no jobs to buy the products businesses produce and sell that will causing a major recession around the world. you can see this has already happened around the world where large companies that a towns depended on closed down leaving these town to become ghost towns because there was no money and no jobs for these towns to survive and thrive. this is what Ai will do to our world in the future killing business opportunities in the future unless you remove people from the population will this business idea and model actually work. due to the fact Ai and Robotics has the potential of replacing a large section of the work force and reducing these jobs is economic suicide for businesses.

@Zerobob26 Місяць тому

AI and machines replacing workers is inevitable. What needs to change is the need for people to work to survive. We should work towards phasing out jobs and money, whilst phasing in automation of jobs. The only elegant solution is a UBI for every citizen, funded by a robot tax.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

UBI wont work. People always desire more, to be better than others, to have power over others. Left unchecked you get people who will take over the world. Just look at the likes of Bezos.

@fetB 29 днів тому

humans have also half the world live under the poverty line and even in the first world is faced with many problems. Also never in our known history, have we faced the kind of technological advancement, which mind you, isnt bad, but it requires a complete rethinking of what kind of economic system should be introduced

@emekaocp Місяць тому

Great content. Please post more…

@osamaAhmed-oi7km Місяць тому

Yes this is power

@jacobbutz8120 Місяць тому

This will be an interesting one.

@justinklenk Місяць тому

The positive/earnest effort she made here - just to fail to make anything more than a naive, non-novel point - really underscores the extent of the problem we're facing here, as individuals and as a society: that there's an unavoidable ecological collapse we're facing, as long as (most) anyone/everyone who doesn't _themselves_ become an effective leverager of AI, instead becomes a nonfunctioning liability, economically and socially. As a critical/creative thinker myself, I yet recognize and appreciate the need for, and the role of, ALL those who will never themselves be critical/creative thinkers. (...And why should a human HAVE to be, in the grand ecology of a society - ?)

@siddharthbhosale8979 Місяць тому

How do you know that you are a critical thinker??? You sound more like a pessimist.

@justinklenk Місяць тому

@@siddharthbhosale8979 I think critically because I value the clear advantage and cognitive leverage of doing so - you should have gathered that from reading my comment, of course; but that's on you to recognize or fail to recognize. And I'm far from a pessimist - which also would be clear, had you paid attention to the entirety of what I said. I'm a realist and an optimist; I see a _reason_ in _hope._ 👍

@siddharthbhosale8979 Місяць тому

@@justinklenk ohh now I know it's a real person I thought UKposts had some ai bots commenting. Hi Justin

@syandekyle Місяць тому

As it looks, you either upgrade your skills or get replaced....its not getting any better

@godmisfortunatechild Місяць тому

The rate of upgrading ones skills, inevitably, will be outpaced by accelerating AI/AGI progress. Thus it isn't a viable solution to the looming economic crisis.

@moemoney7773 Місяць тому

I don't know maybe she need to change her tone because all i heard was "we can replace people more slowly so they don't catch on to our plans😁

@piku5637 Місяць тому

We seriously need UBI and UBH.

@sparkofcuriousity Місяць тому

yes, we're heading towards it. It's inevitable.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

Whose going to pay for that? Large corporations have already demonstrated they are willing to move around the globe in order to dodge taxes so unless you get world wide agreement (HA) it's not going to happen.

@chrisaugustin9181 Місяць тому

i feel like ai will be a tool just like any other that pushes people forward. automation hurts jobs initially, but it’s a net positive

@closerrl9851 Місяць тому

Ok, what is the goal of automation. Is it so it van be a tool? No. But will people do whatever it can to further human kind until it cant? Ofc. Unless, having all needs met drains our curiosity. What your saying is a bit weird but ur thinking is good. Going into an idea economy is still an economy.

@penguinista Місяць тому

Ai is not going to be like other tools. It is going to make tools and plans and innovations that humans are incapable of. Alpha zero was given only the rules of chess and, after four hours of self play, it was the best chess player known to man. It beat Magnus Carlsen at about two hours. Their intellectual performance is going up exponentially snd human's is nearly flat. What other tool we have made looks like that?

@rameshg2717 Місяць тому

Unfortunately the easy availability of this tech is going to create new companies and the companies themselves may not survive. Google is struggling because of a relatively new company, open Ai. In future these Ai companies will become like Amazon... Only these Ai companies will be selling services as products. Those using it now are unknowingly helping these companies..

@LinhTruongNgoc-pf5wg Місяць тому

Thời đại phát triển việc học tiếng anh có chứng chỉ đã vô cùng quan trọng với mọi người.Chúc mọi người học Ielts thành công 🎉🎉

@CowboyOdie Місяць тому

I don't know about AI taking jobs, but a 60-second AI summary of this video would be nice.

@BartT75 Місяць тому

Cool vid. How long before we get an Ai TedTalk?

@EpicVideos2 Місяць тому

You could make one now if you wanted to.

@agathasteacoffeehaus1038 Місяць тому

Thanks for your opinion, I agreed and scrapped this video!

@beyondtimepictures 23 дні тому

At this time you can tell by her expression trying to be upbeat on Ai but really knows the true impact.

@Q_Branch Місяць тому

Ai is a black box, car production lines aren't.

@kyokoyumi Місяць тому

Just so everyone knows, she's "an AI Product Manager at Indeed, where I have the privilege of leading our AI Strategy for the Taxonomy and Ontology team." (from her linkedin profile) She deals in AI ethics. So she's 100% the person we want to pay attention to and talk about this subject. She'll probably be one of the people helping us keep our jobs when AI goes after them lol

@user-vm7kq7po8j Місяць тому

Tuli vain mieleen nwo eikö tästä pitäs olla yksi maa missä tätä ei tehdä ja katsottaisiin tilastollisesti onko väittämä väärä

@mikelgarai3088 19 днів тому

And we came to the point where TED has become an HR forum... Not saying HR shouldn't have forums, but I don't get why they have to get the tech forums, why not make their own "HR talk"? just because AI mentioned?

@Mari_Selalu_Berbuat_Kebaikan Місяць тому

Let's always do alot of good 🔥

@jeffjones6951 Місяць тому

Similarly, Reuben Clamzo knowingly put himself out of work when he clampooned the last Giant Clam

@mlm2770 Місяць тому

Tell that to the 200k just axed employees of silicon valley

@PeterMangin Місяць тому

This was a great talk! There’s a lot more FUD in the comments than deserved, but I suppose that’s the point.

@vladokiller100 Місяць тому

Talk about a dystopian future.

@mr_mysterious_c11 Місяць тому

Is Ai Dangerous for us ?

@inediblenut Місяць тому

One definition of AI is an omniscient consultant, similar to the business consulting companies that executives turn to now for help with strategy and implementation. One of the major uses of consultants is for downsizing and planning layoffs to minimize business disruption and maximize cost savings. One of the first jobs companies will give AI is to take job descriptions and resumes provided by employees, feed them into an algorithm, and develop a plan for eliminating as many employees as possible. I see this all headed to a critical point of inflection where companies have few human employees, but also few customers able to buy their products, because everyone has been laid off by the bots. Where does capitalism go from there?

@justinklenk Місяць тому

It's like a star, which, having burned up enough of its fuel, finally collapses under its own weight, becoming a black hole.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

I love the irony that consulting firms who specialize in laying off other companies workforce are perfectly suited to being fully replaced by AI.

@Sunnucksboi Місяць тому

I know this is not going to be a popular take… but the reality is AI is coming for our jobs whether we like it or not and this does offer a a pragmatic approach to how we handle it. There’s more that needs to be done to safeguard jobs but this feels like a sensible first step

@jhakimi69 Місяць тому

no slides? wtf

@Alice8000 26 днів тому

very nice👌🏼👏🏼👍🏼 clap👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

@Alice8000 26 днів тому

I lost a tickle fight. :(

@The_Deal Місяць тому

Instant thumbs down. We cannot afford to lose more jobs. AI should only be used as a resource, not a mechanism to replace human workers.

@SurfbyShootin Місяць тому

They don't consider you human beings, they think of you in terms of human capital stock.

@MelissaAtwell Місяць тому

This camera work and lighting is really distracting 😒 It hurts the impact of the subject matter… (unless the cameras were run by an A.I. 😏)

@paillette2010 Місяць тому

Wow, anyone can get a TED talk these days, eh? My horse is available. He can discourse probably a little more relevantly on whether he can be replaced with AI or not. He's all for it. Just give him more hay.

@MarlosThiam Місяць тому

the problem is that 80% of the people I know don't study. So if they don't study something new, their jobs will disapear and they won't know how to work in the new ones.

@kgrey9099 8 днів тому

Does she realise the job of a middle manager will also be automated by Ai within 5yrs.

@vasfar9 Місяць тому

At the moment She says. Replace, that's the big problem. That thing AI should ask; wait a second, why does this person ANYWHERE ON THE INTERNET have no banking report. Let me DO something. oh! I see. Check your e-mail. NOW

@thiagoaguilar5781 Місяць тому

why is she in a stadium

@HappySlappii Місяць тому

Welcome to what the middle class has been fighting up against for the past century...

@CasinoBaccaratKingmaker Місяць тому

Baccarat new Random Strategy by Guru James Grosjean's Probability from Master Wu

@Redbunnyjvb Місяць тому

The problem is there is alot of bullshit jobs that AI can replace.

@chranchips Місяць тому

Not this time.

@bullbae02 Місяць тому

Wishful thinking... AI is a tool and it makes work faster, like the car before made an entire industry of horse drawn/powered transportation obsolete in 2 decades... all that jobs lost, this time AI will make mundane task automated and hopefully workers in the future are more equipped to have skill sets that would still make them valuable in the job market of the future.

@vooteimer1234 Місяць тому

Caste System Incoming

@onjofilms Місяць тому

I wrote this comment with the help of AI. Soon, AI will be able to write comments without my help.

@docteuraminebahri1205 Місяць тому

Subscrit❤❤❤

@d4079925 Місяць тому

AI can't become clients, therefore it can't set requirements for quality. As long as humans consume each other's products, only humans can qualify a quality, therefore in the end, we're going to be scrutinizing AI's work with ever increasing scrutiny, even if the AI's ability far exceeds our own, until AI start becoming clients of eachother - at which point, the income tax generated by AI could sustain Universal Basic Income, allowing most of us enough emotional fortitude to care for the planet, instead of surviving inflation.

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

Have you paid attention at all to how much tax billionaires typically pay? because the profits from AI will go into the hands of billionaires, and they will continue to do exactly what they do now.

@Zero.freingetei Місяць тому

Ppga

@Earthgazer Місяць тому

lmao leave it to execs to take until 2024 to realize they need to be paying attention to the AI industry

@user-ew8xj5pg7y Місяць тому

God loves you and takes care of you so that this message reaches you. God is the one who created this great universe and has complete control over it. And the greatest loss that a person loses in this life is that he lives while he does not know God who created him, knowing the Messenger of Muhammad, the last of the messengers, and the Islamic religion, the last of the heavenly religions. The great intelligence, before you believe in something or not, is to read it, study it, and understand it well, and then you have the choice to believe in it or not. I advise you on this now before you do not have time to do that.

@gbd-oq1rz Місяць тому

Repent of your sins. Trust and believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and you will be saved 🙏

@DrMir-jk8cu Місяць тому

❤Good day🎉Hello❤dear Madam Madison💕🎉❤

@gmailaaaa Місяць тому

Let AI end all the slavery, let them report to the bosses. When no human is employed, no one in unemployed, so finally we all will be free of any expectations and societal pressure. Finally, we will be able to do whatever we always wanted to do. Hail AI!

@RhinOzerOz69 Місяць тому

Yes please!!

@asmosisyup2557 Місяць тому

The people who control AI will enslave the rest of humanity. There are grim times ahead and the possibility of world wars/uprisings as the populace get desperate, making the current problems in the US look like a walk in the park.