Will AI Machines Take Over Your Job?
– Musings of Dr. Jamie C. Hsu, 1.21.2018
Robots, Automation, Intelligent Appliances, Personalized Commercials, and AI-Based Search Engines are everywhere and surrounding us in visible and invisible ways. Automation is replacing physical labor and Artificial Intelligence is replacing routine and not-so-routine brainwork. Are we excited about the new capabilities and services provided by machines and robots? Or are we threatened by the prospect of losing our jobs to this new breed of intelligent machines?
History might provide us with consoling facts. Steam engines and railroads displaced horse carriers, and automation replaced many factory laborers. But these workers have become skilled tradespeople and engineers. In the old days, farmers represented more than 50% of the population. Now they are less than 5% of the population. Farmers moved to urban areas to seek new jobs and new careers.
We can expect the same to happen in this new industrial revolution propelled by computers, internet, chips, smart software, and autonomous cars. New categories of jobs and careers are being created. Programmers, chip designers, data analysts, network engineers, computer simulators, and many other new fields of jobs are being generated and in high demand. Companies are doing everything to lure these talents, and schools are offering new degrees to prepare the youth for this exciting future.
In order to survive this sea of change and to thrive in this new era, there are a few things we can do to prepare ourselves. We humans still have many strong suits as compared to artificial intelligent machines. We are good at reading people, seeing the context of a system, and understanding the intent of a communication. In particular, humans are good at the social aspects of our daily work and interactions. We can use these capabilities to synthesize and to innovate, and let the machines do the routine and data-rich analyses to support our work.
With the help of AI machines and the broadening of our own human intelligence, we can learn and move to a higher level of work and enjoy life in a more pleasant and meaningful way.
AI取代你我的工作？
-作者 許俊宸博士
-中譯 薛乃綺
機器人、自動化、智能家電、個性化商業廣告、人工智能為基礎的搜尋引擎，已經以有形及無形的方式圍繞在我們周遭，可以說是無所不在。
自動化正在取代許多勞動工作、而人工智能則是取代許多常規或非常規的腦力工作。我們是否會對機器和機器人所提供的新功能及服務而感到興奮？還是說，我們正面臨著將自己的工作轉手給新型智能機器這樣的前景而感到飽受威脅？
歷史可以提供給我們足以安慰的事實。蒸汽機及火車替換了馬車，自動化取代了大量的工廠勞動力，而许多這些工人則转成為了技師和工程師。在過去，農民占人口的50%以上，現在只剩不到5%。於是農民們遷居到都會區，尋求新的工作和新的事業。
在這波由電腦、互聯網、晶片、智能軟體、自駕車所推動的新的工業革命下，預期未來我們也會發生同樣的狀況。新類別的工作及職務正開始被創造出來。程序員、晶片設計師、資料分析師、網絡工程師、電腦模擬師、以及其他新類型的工作，正不斷的出現、而且都是市場赤手可熱的。企業正竭盡所能去吸納這些人才、學界也正研擬提供這類新領域的學位，為年輕學子令人期待的未來做好準備。
為了能在新時代變遷下繼續生存且成長茁壯，大家應該要做些事情來為自己做好準備。我們人類跟智能機器相比，仍然有許多強大的功能。我們善於讀人、領會系統的前後關係、並能理解溝通的意圖；特別是在日常生活中的進對應退、及人情世故方面。我們可以將這些能力綜合起來、去創新，讓機器去處理常規事項，並且提供豐富的分析資料，來做為我們工作上的支援。
在AI機器的幫助下，擴大自己的人文智慧，我們能夠學習並且轉移到更高層次的工作，以更愉快、更有意義的方式去享受生活。
