Safe jobs despite AI hype

[Joe (Schwarz)]

DNH member @Phamvienkhanh stated

chat gpt thời gian gian gian đây thấy nó trả lời" người "hơn lúc trước.

AI becomes smarter* thanks to LLM (Large Language Model). This Newsweek Article wrote: “That OpenAI’s latest large language model not only passed the Turing test but outperformed actual human”.

What is a Turing test? It is a guessing test or an “imitation game” (click HERE for further details).

That sounds very dangerous to working people. The smarter AI becomes, the more tireless and more powerful it can surpass people in terms of working morality (24/24-7/7 working hours, no salary claims, no overtime compensation, etc.). In his posting:Thử dùng AI code react native app trong 2h, founder @LTD already found that ChatGPT can create some codes faster than humans. How true, how worrying and how alarming!

In this article of the same newsweek wrote that only a few professions are safe from AI. The professions that are not mentioned are all at risk. The safe professions are (from the safest to the less safe):

• nurse
• choreographer
• medical assistant
• Psychological consultant

No mention of IT developers … sigh!

[ltd (Lê Trần Đạt)]

ChatGPT can create some codes faster than humans.

Yes, that’s true.

However, I don’t think that IT or software development, especially when it comes to designing, implementing, and maintaining complex software, is at risk; quite the opposite. AI is suitable for repetitive or mundane work, but it is not as effective when it comes to a big project where a lot of context and trade-offs are required. Furthermore, it is less effective when dealing with new problems that do not exist or do not have enough data for training.

I believe the news is fear-mongering on this topic.

— chèn thêm phiên bản dịch của chatgpt :-p

Tuy nhiên, mình không nghĩ ngành IT hay lập trình phần mềm — đặc biệt là mảng thiết kế, triển khai và bảo trì các hệ thống phức tạp — đang gặp rủi ro đâu, ngược lại là đằng khác. AI rất phù hợp cho những công việc lặp đi lặp lại hoặc nhàm chán, nhưng khi đụng đến những dự án lớn cần nhiều bối cảnh, sự đánh đổi, và cái nhìn tổng thể thì nó lại chưa đủ tầm. Thêm nữa, AI càng trở nên kém hiệu quả khi phải xử lý những vấn đề mới toanh, chưa từng có tiền lệ hoặc không có đủ dữ liệu để huấn luyện.

[TaoLaoBidaoBanBanhBa]

I’m using Colipot and ClaudeAI:

• Colipot to generate code
• ClaudeAI to debug and improve the code written by Colilot

As an amatuer who codes small tools/projects as hobby, AI is super usefull as a helper, and help to save time a lot for simple/easy tasks with clear requirements.
AI is aslo a great friend with coding experience, who can provide new information and explain what they are and why using them.

But to repalce a professional developer, even at junior level? NO, I don’t think so.

You must know what you need, know the question to ask, know how to ask to make AI helpful. And if you know to ask the quetions like that, AI is just a tool.

[Joe (Schwarz)]

I believe the news is fear-mongering on this topic.

But to repalce a professional developer, even at junior level? NO, I don’t think so.

@ltd and @TaoLaoBidaoBanBanhBa

It’s “fear-mongering” tactics of those who, like many CEOs and HR managers, are otherwise big-mouthed and pursue their own personal profit interests. These bosses like to talk about using AI to reduce costs and optimize operations in order to attract qualified employees for pittances.
Do you know why Samsung or Google are setting up development centers in Vietnam? For the benefit of the Vietnamese? No. It’s all about reducing costs and optimizing operations because Korean or US developers cost them twice or three times as much in South Korea or the US. The hillbilly Trump wants to relocate such centers back to the US with his tariff sledgehammer, but is too dumb to recognize two relevant facts:

• A marketing law says: If 1000 sales letters are sent out, probably only one will be answered. This law can be generalized: Out of 1000 IT developers, perhaps only one is fully qualified for an high-end development task.
• The standard of living in the US is ten times or more higher than in Vietnam, for example. For the same US/Korean high-end salary, an IT company can hire ten or more qualified Vietnamese AI top developers.

Vietnamese CEOs, however, are similar to other CEOs around the world. They use AI to intimidate young people, pursuing only one goal: minimal cost, maximum profit. Qualified or talented young IT developers must grow in their profession, and that means starting from scratch. Just like a baby stumbles before it can walk. But that’s not what CEOs want, because time is money. They simply want someone who comes out of the blue and will take on all the demanding AI development from the start for a low salary.

Manual labor such as harvesting cotton, strawberries, or asparagus requires a great deal of dexterity and lightning-fast improvisation in every situation. A humanoid AI hand can’t replace that. The same applies to high-end IT development.

The question, however, is: Do the bosses know this?

[phamvienkhanh (Phạm Viễn Khánh)]

Về việc trí tuệ nhân tạo có thể thay thế được con người trong một vài hoặc tất cả công việc hay không tôi không có ý kiến gì đặc biệt, đó là chuyện của tương lai, và tương lai thì bất định. Nếu tôi là một người sống ở thời trung cổ thì tôi sẽ nghĩ: “làm quái gì có một cỗ máy có thể hiểu được ngôn ngữ loài người, trừ khi cổ máy đó được tao ra từ ma thuật”. Thực tế đã có những cổ máy như vậy mà không cần tới ma thuật. Tương lai, nếu có một số người mất việc vì công việc của họ bị thay thế nởi AI hay robot thì cũng đáng buồn cho họ nhưng nếu nhìn ở gốc độ khác nó có thể mở ra một thời kỳ phát triển mới cho nhân loại.
Thay vì lo lắng về tương lai hãy tận hưởng những thành tựu công nghệ mà chung ta đang có.

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Regarding whether artificial intelligence can replace humans in some or all kinds of jobs, I don’t have any particular opinion. That’s a matter of the future, and the future is uncertain. If I were someone living in the Middle Ages, I would probably think: “There’s no way a machine could understand human language, unless that machine was created by magic.” But in reality, such machines now exist without the need for any magic. In the future, if some people lose their jobs because their work is replaced by AI or robots, it would certainly be unfortunate for them. However, from another perspective, it could also open up a new era of development for humanity.

Instead of worrying about the future, let’s enjoy the technological achievements we have today.

[Joe (Schwarz)]

@phamvienkhanh
I completely agree with your view. The problem with AI isn’t whether or not it will replace humans, but the social problems humanity will face. As you mentioned the Middle Ages, industrialization began in Europe in the 15th century and reached its peak in England in the 18th century. It caused enormous social problems for people without land and without jobs. To solve these pressing problems, European rulers began colonizing the world by forcibly recruiting people and sending them abroad to occupy land. In Australia, New Zealand, and the Americas, there are now more Caucasians and Africans than indigenous people. Asia and Africa were colonized and exploited, leaving most Asian and African nations as less “developed.” Eventually, this intolerable situation ended in two world wars with millions of deaths.

With the new AI revolution in the industrialized nations (led by the US), history is repeating itself in a different form, but more dangerously than in the past, with the same omens: more unemployed and landless people, and then AI-driven wars? I’m not a doomsayer, but you can imagine for yourself which direction the world is currently heading. First Ukraine and then the Baltic states in Europe, or first Taiwan and then the Philippines in Asia?

So, as you put it:

instead of worrying about the future, we should rejoice in the technological achievements we have today.

[superthin (Vô Thin)]

In order not to become unemployed, you can observe life: whoever has the energy or energy potential is assured because it can be sold anywhere.
Bottom line: do something energy-related, gym is one such thing

[Joe (Schwarz)]

Gym is a primitive sport for yahoos like the Terminator or Rambo. In Asia (Vietnam, China, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, and India), there’s a better gym, and it’s called the national martial art. In Vietnam, it’s called Vo Co Tryen or Vo Vi Nam. In India, for example, there’s THIS. Dexterity and agility versus clumsiness and ponderousness. Which is better? Gym or Vo Vi Nam? One is just for showing off, the other is not only for self-defense, but also health

[Joe (Schwarz)]

This BBC article gives us the impression that you can design something yourself without having to go to a fashion store or a fashion designer. It’s “impressive.”

Update: Another story about how AI is replacing human labor.

Are humans still better than AI? This article HERE is about a story in German about how a scammer is making money in the name of AI. I’m always baffled why people are so stupid as to spend millions of dollars on an AI-powered vaporware.

GOOGLE Translation (shortened):

New York startup Nate: Cheap call center workers instead of AI – next fintech star indicted

Albert Saniger raised more than $50 million from investors with his New York startup. His promise: an AI-powered revolution in online shopping. But the technology didn’t even exist, according to prosecutors.

Nate founder Saniger wanted to revolutionize online shopping with his app in 2018. Instead of laboriously typing credit card details, delivery addresses, and other information on every website, his technology would make it possible with just one click. “The first AI shopping tool,” Saniger said. With this beautiful story, he raised more than $50 million from prominent investors such as Coatue, Forerunner Ventures, and Renegade Partners; most of it at the peak of the 2021 tech hype. However, research by the tech portal “The Information” revealed in 2022 that the New York startup’s pitch was significantly exaggerated. The following year, Nate ran out of capital. The app no ​​longer exists, and the investors’ money is gone.

Workers in the Philippines instead of AI

The founder exploited the “lure of AI technology to build a false narrative about innovations that never existed,” prosecutor Matthew Podolsky said in a statement. The prosecutor’s indictment now outlines how brazenly Saniger, a native of Spain, apparently acted. The company never had the advertised AI technology, prosecutors concluded. Nate had hundreds of low-paid workers in a call center in the Philippines fill out the online shoppers’ information. When his employees pointed out the zero percent level of automation, he allegedly forbade them from discussing it. He internally restricted access to the relevant dashboard and declared the metric a company secret.