Many people have heard of a rise in AI, or artificial intelligence, in certain industries. There’s a significant amount of stigma surrounding its usage, mostly due to the fact that its current most popular usage is as a “replacement” for industries involving the arts—using AI to create digital art, movie scripts, voiceovers, and more things that would otherwise require a creative human to accomplish. There’s even been some discussion regarding its usage in fields like law, engineering, and marketing.
While there are certainly a large number of people who use AI for more underhanded or even outright selfish means, AI as a concept isn’t something that should be shied away from, especially when used responsibly. When people think of AI being used in art, the first thing that people tend to think about is using it to create art in an artist’s style, thus getting around needing to commission them.
While sure, that gets you free art, it not only prevents the artist from receiving essential income they need in order to continue making a living, the art is going to be significantly lower quality in comparison to an actual person making the art; the anatomy might be wrong, the color scheme may be something you didn’t intend, and you can’t exactly tell an AI to tweak certain parts of a piece nearly as easy as you could a real artist. The same thing goes for script-writing AIs, voiceover AIs, and more. Using AI as the sole artist is not only ineffective for the exact goal you’re looking for, it’s also harming the industry. However, that’s not to say that AI can’t be used in the art industry at all. AI can be used to create pose references, color schemes, character ideas, and even just placeholder art before the final product is created. As long as the actual AI product isn’t used as the final product, it’s an exceptionally great tool for artists.
"...while AI may be used in industries ranging from fast food to law, its most effective uses have been when it is used as a tool, rather than just a replacement for whatever human would be doing the job."
In a similar vein, while AI may be used in industries ranging from fast food to law, its most effective uses have been when it is used as a tool, rather than just a replacement for whatever human would be doing the job. While people have heard stories about AI lawyers, any law firm worth its salt will know that AI can’t replace a real human lawyer. Human lawyers are capable of evoking emotional responses, finding angles in cases that may not be straightforward, and pushing forward for their clients, even if the easiest or most logical option would be to give in the towel or take a deal. An AI would allow the lawyers to keep on track with the case, pointing out inconsistencies with testimonies, bringing up details about evidence, and other minutiae that a human lawyer may lose track of or miss during the stress of a real case. Similarly, on a more local level, AI in fast food may not be able to fully replace fast food workers, due to the fact that the maintenance of machines may be more difficult, especially for branch restaurants as opposed to corporate chains. AI may be able to pick up slack with flipping burgers and frying, but custom orders, customer service, and correcting mistakes is something more appropriate for an actual human.
Furthermore, the few jobs that AI may be able to fully replace will create new industries. Programming the AIs, maintaining their upkeep, or even other careers that we can’t even imagine may be possible by integrating this technology into various industries. After all, a century ago, nobody could even imagine the concept of working on a computer all day as a living. Heck, computers in the way we know them weren’t even around at that time!
Companies that believe that they can shave costs by firing all of their human employees and just having AI employees will soon find out that they won’t be able to maintain a level of quality in the same sense if they had human employees, though admittedly they may be able to make more products in less time. Imagine it like the factory industry being revolutionized by the various heavy machinery that was invested to mass produce new products. If factories relied entirely on the machinery, that would mean that errors that the machines missed would go through into the public, small breaks and wear would turn into disastrous events, and ultimately it would end up costing most to maintain rather than just having human employees.
In short, AI is a tool that can be very easily exploited due to its accessibility, and if used irresponsibly, it’ll not only harm a large number of industries, it’ll end up costing more than if things were to go on as they were. However, when used as a tool in tandem with humans and other human jobs, not only can it revolutionize various industries, it can allow the creation of new jobs and opportunities for people to make a living. It may be daunting to imagine the possibilities, but as with most things, responsible use is key. AI won’t be going away for a long time, and will only grow as people experiment with it more, and it’ll be up to people to use it right, rather than just trying to replace jobs with it.
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