😺 Will AI replace us? Yes, no, maybe so…

PLUS: ChatGPT-4 used *1 MILLION* hours of YouTube?!

Welcome, humans.

The mainstream media loves to sensationalize AI as inherently “bad” or “evil,” often lacking nuanced perspectives or viable solutions. At The Neuron, we take pride in highlighting AI’s potential and problems, guided by evidence, even when it leads us into tricky territory.

Nobody Puts Baby AI in a Corner Box.

Here’s what you need to know about AI today:

Amazon is scrapping its “Just Walk Out” tech in its grocery stores.
OpenAI trained GPT-4 on 1M+ hours of YouTube content.
Starting in May, AI-generated content on Meta’s platforms will be tagged with “Made with AI” disclaimers.
Elon Musk’s xAI is in talks to potentially raise $3B at an $18B valuation.

Will AI replace humans? Yes, no, maybe so…

The burning question of 2024 is, “Will AI take my job?”

If you caught Jon Stewart’s 15-minute viral take on “The False Promises of AI,” you might have come away wishing death to the robots more than after a Blade Runner marathon.

Stewart presents a paradoxical view, asserting that:

AI is overhyped (e.g. it can barely make Zuckerberg’s toast).
Yet, AI could soon massively displace jobs.

The segment correctly notes that current AI can automate certain jobs significantly and quickly, such as customer support—Klarna’s AI did the work of 700 support agents, and e-commerce platform Dukaan laid off 90% of its customer support staff due to AI.

But displacing workers en masse? That’s actually not what the data says yet.

In fact, some professions, like video editing, accounting, and sales, have seen a demand surge since ChatGPT’s rise:

At The Neuron, we’re also optimistic that the AI Revolution will usher in new jobs, as has been the case with most disruptive technologies throughout history.

Will those jobs be people who rate a chatbot’s output? Data labelers? Prompt engineers? TBH, it’s anyone’s guess.

(Stewart quips that calling someone who types questions a ‘prompt engineer’ is like calling a janitor a ‘doctor of mopping’. We can’t help but agree).

Why it matters: Three realities coexist:

AI will replace jobs.
AI will create new jobs.
This will all happen at a breakneck speed.

But it won’t happen overnight. Many AI solutions aren’t yet capable of automating away an entire person’s job or even doing that job well at all…

The Information reported that Amazon is ditching its automated, cashier-free grocery stores cause the tech just didn’t work that well.

“The good news is that most roles are more about workflows—engineers write code AND analyze data AND write emails.

So far, AI has mostly boosted productivity for white-collar workers, rather than forcing them to update their LinkedIn bios to “open for work”.

Yes, AI will take jobs, but it’ll also create new ones. The best thing you can do today is learn how to work closely with AI in your field.

(Case in point: 63% of tech employers now favor folks who can code with AI rather than just knowing how to code).”

The Neuron 5 months ago.

Start by taking our free Intro to ChatGPT course here!

Around the Horn.

Meta's platforms will start tagging AI-generated content with a "Made with AI" disclaimer this May.
OpenAI reportedly trained ChatGPT-4 on 1M+ hours of YouTube videos; Google also trained its models on YouTube.
Jony Ive, the brain behind the iPhone's design, and OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman are in talks with VCs to raise funds for a hush-hush AI gadget.
Elon Musk’s xAI is in talks to potentially raise $3B at an $18B valuation.

Treats To Try.

Stylar is a user-friendly AI tool for image editing and design.
Cody helps developers search, write, and understand code faster.
*Fill out this form to get your company featured here in front of 425,000+ AI power users.
Perplexity Pro, an AI search engine, offers access to GPT-4 AND Claude 3 Opus for $20/month.
Check out this anonymized demo of an AI-crafted song (about AI). Truly impressive!

*sponsored content. Advertise in The Neuron here.