AI is coming to replace you (and that’s alright)

My final words for 2022

A lot has happened this year, but the buzz that OpenAI generated with ChatGPT is unrivaled and took the world by surprise. Much of its appeal can be attributed to the wonder it instills in virtually anyone that’s using it for the first time. It reminded me of a famous quote from Arthur C. Clarke: “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”

It’s true, it feels magical. 

For many, it also feels like we’re approaching some kind of tipping point. While that may or may not be true, it has reinvigorated an old discussion: are we being replaced by AI?

The Great Replacement

It’s a bit of a loaded term, I know. The Great Replacement is a well-known conspiracy theory peddled by right-wing extremists who obsess over immigration. However, the one and only real replacement that has been on-going for decades is a slow and steady replacement by technology.

Jobs that once were done by people no longer exist. Did you know there used to be something like a Bowling Pin Setter? Generally reserved for teenagers, a pinsetter’s job was the norm before automated pinsetters were introduced in the 1950s. There used to be a Lamplighter and a Milkman, too.

These examples are merely meant to prove a point, namely that we’re all slowly being replaced. Technology affects all industries, everywhere. Factories are not being run like they used to. And now generative AI is coming for us, creatives.

Human-computer collaboration

It’s not a bad thing, though. On the contrary, research suggests that there will be more jobs created than lost by automation.

When the personal computer was invented, people were convinced the end was near. What happened, instead? It made us more productive. In reality, technology is not replacing people but replacing jobs. It changes the nature of our jobs (and sometimes dissolves them completely). Most of all, it helps us do things more efficiently and accelerates us into the future.

If anything, this new wave of highly conversational, generative technologies are going to supercharge our lives in unprecedented ways. Frankly, I am convinced we’re witnessing the dawn of an exciting new time: the era of human-computer collaboration (more about that in a future newsletter).

Embracing the future

So, yes, AI is coming to replace you and that’s alright. Writers, creatives, marketeers, developers… your jobs are going to change over the years. Forever change. And you are going to adapt. Because that’s what people do, it’s what we are unquestionably and uniquely equipped for.

It is what I’m wishing for you all. To embrace the future and everything that it holds. See you in 2023. 

All the best,

— Jurgen