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Nowadays we have already got AI (artificial intelligence) that can take over some roles in the process of production in the society. For example, in the manufacturing industry like automobile industry, intelligent robots are helping to realize the automation of components assembly; in the tertiary sector of the economy, for instance the banking industry, AI robots has been introduce to assist the financial service for customers. Most shockingly, AI can play chess in at a such high level that it is able to beat the world-class human chess players. Before worrying about if or when the AI will take over the land from our hand as the movies imagined, the more urgent and realistic worry should be — will it compete with and replace human workers that a great amount of people will get out of jobs?

Inevitably, AI is replacing some kinds of labor with robots, notably those with repetitive or fiddly activities as mentioned above. Especially when the labor cost nowadays is getting higher all over the world, it can be cost-efficient to let AI takes over certain jobs. As a result, this trend leads to direct economic competition between humans and machines. Some experts studying AI’s effect on labor argue that the value created by AI benefits companies more than it does workers. It can be expected that using AI would further enlarge the income gaps between different groups of people. 

While the replacement effect might hold as one major consideration in the application of AI, there is some field where AI can reach beyond the human touch in the current stage; for example, AI has a great potential to assist scientists with medical research to a large extent. Specifically, making use of the AI’s ability with respect to deep learning and mass calculation, scientists are able to predict the structure of proteins, which requires considering millions of possibilities of combinations of amino acids, something that humans cannot readily do. That is, rather than thinking of substituting humans with machines, a more valuable insight would be using machines to dive into something that is hard to reach by humans and thus has not been explored yet.

Therefore, the value of AI in the future exists in creating value for instead of seizing value from human beings. With the target, there might be more jobs created than replaced. 

Reference

Clive Thompson, 2022, AI Shouldn’t Compete With Workers—It Should Supercharge Them. Available at: https://www.wired.com/story/ai-shouldnt-compete-with-workers-it-should-supercharge-them-turing-trap/

Bernard Marr, 2022, Is AI Really A Job Killer? These Experts Say No. Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2022/09/23/is-ai-really-a-job-killer-these-experts-say-no/?sh=33482d0b2628

Jessica Kim-Schmid and Roshni Raveendhran, 2022, Where AI Can — and Can’t — Help Talent Management. Available at: https://hbr.org/2022/10/where-ai-can-and-cant-help-talent-management

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A year ago Mark Zuckerberg made a gamble on Metaverse, raising public’s attention and interest in the future form of living. At the same time, Zuckerberg’s envisioning of Metaverse has raised eyebrows as well. The most common criticism is that the era of Metaverse might come one day, but it is too far away and unrealistic from the current point of view, talking about it now prompts people to gamble on something that has no grounded infrastructures. Even more, it becomes an orgy of capital. However, there are indeed some fundamental elements in the Metaverse worth our wait, among which the ones that will be discussed in this blog are augmented reality and virtual reality (AR & VR) technology.

With a grand vision of Metaverse, under Mark Zuckerberg’s lead Meta continues his gambling on the vision and focuses on the VR technology that lays the groundwork for the Metaverse. Today on 12th Oct 2022, the $1,500 mixed reality headset Quest Pro VR ((five times the price of a Quest 2) is unveiled, which can blend the elements in the virtual world with the real world. Meta positions it as a tool for work as well as entertainment.

Quoting the comments of the guest in the video on the headset, this product tries to convince developers to build apps and experiences for this device instead of in the app stores on iPhone. However, since currently there are only a few actual apps in this device, it is hard to encourage developers to transit to the platform that Meta builds — Quest store; currently, there is also no compelling solution raised by Meta to deal with the dilemma. As the copywriter Kurt Wagner puts it, the device itself is slick but does not help much with the company’s current position (declining stock prices and increasing impatient stockholders).

However, as titans like Meta and Apple are investing in the development of AR & VR technologies, even though we are at the early stage of the envisioned future Metaverse world, it is still promising that AR & VR headsets would rebuild our everyday lives in a good way. For Meta, it will not only consider the availability of the headset, but also the possibility of overtake a portion of shares from Apple with respect to application development, which is one of the crucial factors that directly affect the public’s willingness of participation.

Kurt Wagner. (2022) Meta’s VR Will Become Cooler, If Investors Can Wait That Long. Available at: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2022-10-12/meta-s-vr-will-become-cooler-if-investors-can-wait-that-long

Ryan Mac, Sheera Frenkel and Kevin Roose. (2022) Skepticism, Confusion, Frustration: Inside Mark Zuckerberg’s Metaverse Struggles. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/10/09/technology/meta-zuckerberg-metaverse