The AI boom
Since the release of ChatGPT by OpenAI in November 2022, a steady stream of similar products has taken over the landscape. AI products are more efficient and accurate than most humans, and the loss of jobs has caused problems. In the manufacturing industry, robots and automated systems can replace humans for simple tasks, thus reducing the need for workers. It could lead to job losses for workers, especially those who need more specialist skills and education.
As AI continues to evolve, many researchers are also concerned about the future of AI and humanity. For example, Musk and others have issued an open letter proposing a moratorium on AI research to focus on moral and ethical issues.
A recent lecture by Tsinghua University under the title ChatGPT evoked the issue of the development of artificial intelligence.
“The lecturer wrote 14,000 words of science fiction in Ai in half an hour,” said a student from the school in the interview.
It is something that humans cannot do. Technology can sum up all the efforts of previous generations to make creative writing more efficient. The issue of copyright is still causing debate, though. The lecture is also understood to have mentioned that “mediocre mental work could all be replaced.”
A paper written by OpenAI researchers estimates that 80% of the US workforce may have at least 10% of their job tasks affected by LLM( learning language model ). In comparison, 19% of workers may see at least 50% of their jobs affected.
As the world moves towards AI automation, the future will have no concept of disciplines or specializations, no distinction between arts and sciences, but a remarkable convergence of disciplines. Art students can program even if they don’t know how to program as long as they can ask questions to the AI. Parents should also present a new paradigm in children’s education to prepare them for an AI-driven world.
Considerations for using AI
Photo by Yvette
For students facing the graduation stage, the threat of AI is even more worrying. XingYing Pan, a law student at the University of Sydney, explains the impact of AI on her.
“It feels like there’s no way my mind and the machine can go head-to-head. I cannot remember so many legal cases, but AI does. When doing case analysis, the AI can quickly sort out all the favorable conditions and relevant legal rules, which are so strong.”
Liki, a public relations major, has her own opinion about AI.
“I had asked ChatGPT to evaluate the plan I had made and improve it. It proved to raise my questions and make a better plan.”
With the University of Sydney strictly prohibiting the use of AI tools such as ChatGPT to complete assignments, Liki has found a better way to use the tool.
“Usually, I’ll take the creative points I come up with and let it integrate or improve on some grammatical errors.”
With reasonable use, using AI as a helpful tool to assist is the approach used in most settings today. A complete replacement for humans will not happen at this stage, but it is foreseeable shortly.
“Maybe AI can replace the work of a legal assistant, but it won’t replace a lawyer.” Pan, who is aiming to become a lawyer, says this.
“AI lacks empathy, and in many cases, maybe it can make the correct judgment, but it certainly can’t make the right one. So I’m not worried about being replaced either.”
“If you are good enough, AI is just a tool.”
The art of gradual replacement
The crisis was felt in art, especially in painting, long before other sectors. By grabbing an existing artist’s work online, AI softwares effectively remixes or even copies it without attribution.
Screenshoted by Yvette
Artists resisted this situation at the end of 2022.
However, ArtStation, the largest platform for sharing artists’ work, subsequently defended the inclusion of AI-generated works on its platform. This move proves that AI painting is already an inevitable trend.
In the recent past, the well-known game production company Rayark fired their artists and used AI-generated animations in their games. The profession of the concept artist is indeed being replaced.
Human VS AI
Renowned CG painter RuanJia takes to social media to take on the AI. He has worked on projects such as Halo, World of Warcraft, and Diablo 3 and is an artist with credentials in the industry. He put up a homage sketch of the Valkyrie of Elden Ring on his account, stating that he wanted to do a test: to see if anyone could use the AI and detail the sketch in half an hour. The result was that none of the images could match Ruan Jia’s finished product in terms of accuracy and composition.
“There’s a discourse now called original painting unemployment theory, where many so-called AI brats will come and mock painters, saying that AI can produce drawings in 15 seconds and that all your lifelong learning as artists is useless. Young people who are about to enter the industry are also affected by this argument, thinking that all those years of art studies have been wasted. I want all the anxious original artists, and those who advocate AI, to open up the software and import my sketches to try it out and see how much AI can do.”
But when talking about his views on AI, Ruan is not that resistant to this new technology.
He says: “In the past, scene design was done by hand; after 3D software became popular, it can assist you to do lighting, composition, and a lot of ready-made model libraries, then the overall requirement of the industry for talents is definitely getting higher and higher, which is an inevitable trend of technology development.”
Likewise, he offers his thoughts on how to use AI technology better.
“People do not know how to communicate with the art post if they can not draw. When they are in a meeting, they can use AI to describe how they want to feel, such as what style of hair, face, and clothing. It helps clarify and communicate requirements. When brainstorming, you can put initial concepts into the AI, use it as a search engine, and see the images it generates, and you might get more inspiration.
“Many people see me as an anti-AI fighter, but I’m actually someone who likes future technology and the Cyber Sense, just to say that we shouldn’t magnify the anxiety that AI brings now.”
At a time when AI is going strong, many people have developed new anxieties about their jobs, raising further questions. The changes are dramatic but manageable. Through responsible development and implementation, generative AI can unlock productivity gains at the scale we need.
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