Ask HN: How much does AI threaten your job security in this decade?

3 points by rblion 1 year ago | 4 comments

I've been reading about this a lot lately and am in the process of applying to YC. I am a creative and technical founder with experience in sales too. I am best with design and sales but have enough engineering acumen to have ticked off Google's algorithm and recieved the 'foobar challenge' when I was 26.

I don't see myself ever becoming a senior level engineer anywhere but I do feel confident that I could manage a startup working closely with a few of them. They would benefit greatly financially by me doing what I am best at. As the saying goes 'A-level players like to play with A-level players'.

AI is fascinating for sure but there are some major red flags as well. The main one being Suchin Balaji mysteriously dying right after becoming a whistleblower. I am looking at this question from all angles and leaving no stone unturned.

This is an ethical question as much as a technical one.

b0o 1 year ago |

Not only does AI have no chance of threatening my job security, it makes my job easier the better it gets.

A larger task that usually takes me 3 hours I can shave off 2 with chatgpt. A task that takes me 1 hour, it can perform instantly. It can do 80% of a project for me with high rate of success but it can't do the last 20% - but neither can 99% of the ppl in my industry do it either.

I also asked chatgpt how long it'd take to take over my job:

"With your extensive experience across "insert my field", it would take a while for me to match the depth of your real-world knowledge and decision-making skills. However, I'm already here to assist with tasks like data analysis, generating reports, drafting documents, and providing insights, which can make your work more efficient. While I can handle many technical aspects, the nuanced judgment, leadership, and human connection inherent to your roles are unique to you and require a human touch that I'm not designed to replicate fully."

I then asked it to estimate how long it'd take to do 80% of my job: Chatgpt said maybe 5-10 years.

Can't wait.

gregjor 1 year ago |

Not at all. I expect "AI" and the people using it will create more work for me. Forty years programming, DBA, system admin.

Trying to discuss ethics of big tech and the world of venture capital with a straight face seems pointless.

pseudosaid 1 year ago |

not at all. I dont see AI engineering live music beyond the mix. getting to the point where you can mix audio channels is never going to be done by machine. it will never be cost effective and the emotional aptitude needed to excel in Live Sound just isnt there with AI. at the end of the day, an artist, promoter, and venue owner all want a real body to throw under the bus. Not a digital scapegoat

PaulHoule 1 year ago |

Like I might get murdered over it?

Seriously, whistleblowing is a very high stress situation. Many whistleblowers have already been driven into behavior that they feel is unethical which results in https://www.openarms.gov.au/signs-symptoms/moral-injury which is one of the worst risk factors for severe psychological distress in soldiers returning from combat.

Also whistleblowing endangers one's future career. I've had experiences with people who said the wrong things to the wrong people and created a lot of trouble for everyone including themselves and the people they told. Based on those experiences my wife and I are wary about people who aren't discreet, not just in N=1 social and business connections but also people who are a few steps removed.

Sustainable organizations have some sense of inside and outside and an instinct to protect themselves. The form in the mafia is extreme https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omert%C3%A0 but it is predictable that a person who's taken those steps will have difficulty finding employment.

It's why we have rules like

https://www.whistleblowers.org/whistleblower-protections-and...

because a person in that situation probably will never get enough good paying job.

That said, I think it is a very risky move to off somebody, efforts to cover it up might not work and would result in much more trouble than the organization started with. I remember a private eye from a non-fiction book from the 1970s who said conspiracies work like this; you should think of 2=1+1=11, and 3=1+1+1=111 and 4=1+1+1+1=1111 and such for the danger of a secret being revealed as more people are in on it.