[2000cs]

Is AI combined with humanoid robots the “Plastics” of today?

Interested in thoughts about the future of work and the implications for income and wealth, with a possible major disruption coming from AI (already here and getting better extremely fast) and humanoid robots (nascent today but predicted by some to be 1:10 with humans in a few years).

Lots of predictions about entry level, mid level and white collar jobs being replaced.

What are your thoughts, and what advice would you give people in various stages of life/work?

[spazzyfry123]

I've never opened ChatGPT or anything similar. I've made the conscious decision to avoid it. Which will likely be a detriment to my career to avoid the "natural" progression - especially "early" in my career in the grand scheme.

However, I just received notification yesterday from my boss, the VP, that I may not have a choice in the matter. "You have been specially selected to participate in this initial phase of the AI Lab. [Company]'s idea is to invest in individuals whose roles are positioned to add significant value and enhance business outcomes through the application of AI..."

I'm not sure how I feel about it. Now specific to your point on humanoid robots. It just feels creepy. Robots have been a part of manufacturing for decades, so it's nothing new. But the human aspect seems surreal. I mean we've all seen Terminator and I, Robot, right?

[vreihen16]

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[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by spazzyfry123

I mean we've all seen Terminator and I, Robot, right?

You forgot about the worst AI of them all:




.

[vreihen16]

A certain large online Canada-based web forums company just deployed AI "bot" users into its forums to answer questions and make it look like their forum sites are still relevant. The damn thing copped an attitude when I asked it to summarize the last 25 years of forum posts and create a FAQ of the most common problems for new owners to reference!!!!!

[Josh-PA]

I personally think this is going to be our society's downfall. I fully expect the sex industry to latch on to animatronic AI powered "girlfriends & boyfriends" that can be customized to their owners ideals, support whatever deviancies the owner desires, tailor their AI personalities to fit the owner's interests, etc.

Dating, relationships, marriage and child bearing are already on the downtrend with Millennials +. Add the option 'of a perfect virtual mate' to the mix and why would you ever put up with the Karen or Ken next door to continue our species.

This would totally wreck the hot/crazy scale, or at least allow you to tip it in whatever direction you preferred.

[dreamingat30fps]

I use it all the time for my business. Gotta make that $$ before it takes my job!!

[Redd]

AI will replace certain roles and create new ones. Older people will feel the damage more as they are almost at the end of their careers and/or not as willing to learn new things.

AI will also create new jobs and generally make it easier for society to do things. Productivity will go up as a result.

I personally witnessed a similar paradigm shift when computers came into advertising and graphic design and put my dad, an airbrush artist, out of work. Was it tough on him? Sure. But as compared to before, graphic artists can now do mockups and entire designs in hours instead of days.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by Redd

But as compared to before, graphic artists can now do mockups and entire designs in hours instead of days.

...and now graphic artists can make french fries, while AI that took their jobs does mockups and entire designs in minutes.....

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by vreihen16

...and now graphic artists can make french fries, while AI that took their jobs does mockups and entire designs in minutes.....

Have you seen the fully automated French fry machine, makes and bags them.

This is the core of my concern: the AI-enabled humanoid robots will be able to drive my car, go get the groceries (probably better at selecting fruits and meats) and put them away, mow the lawn, do laundry, etc. They are being talked about for elder care (including nursing homes); can they change a baby’s diaper and babysit?

Price target is $20k-$40k, so with financing/leasing well within the means of many.

In a work environment a lot of entry level jobs can be quickly replaced - so how does a young person get started in this world? And then the middle managers go; and we have a problem of too many people without work, but a highly productive economy.

Today this seems like when spreadsheets emerged and killed 13-column paper; and word processors killed steno pools. AI alone will do that any any office employee should be learning it now. But this likely is much bigger. Could a contractor employ robots to build a house? Certainly a landscaper could use them to mow/trim lawns etc. (Some already deploy fleets of robot mowers).

I feel like we’re on the verge of a major transformation, disruption, upheaval.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

In a work environment a lot of entry level jobs can be quickly replaced - so how does a young person get started in this world? And then the middle managers go; and we have a problem of too many people without work, but a highly productive economy.

My DW was at one of the supermarket chains the other day, and they had a robot tooling through the aisles taking inventory of every shelf. We went to a Highway 55 burger place a few years ago on the road, and they had a robot that followed the waitstaff around to deliver food and drinks to the tables. I think that our society is doomed.....

[ASAP]

It's hard to fully predict what it will do... but what we can predict is that the government and absolutely everyone else involved who is making money of this is not thinking about the full future implications of this...

There are clearly are 0 consumer, employee nor privacy protections in this and it's wild that we are moving towards a 1984 future.

Think about how Colleges will operate? Will they even exist for anything outside of med school and high specialty? Will all office jobs be worthless? Who will consume when there are no jobs?>

No one thinks ahead in these situations... and to me this is directly akin to what happened when social media blew up... it transformed a ton but also destroyed even more so... namely real human connection.

[SenorFunkyPants]

AI could hardly do worse that the some of the morons running powerful countries at this particular moment.

[Frostynorth]

Eventually we'll give AI weapons, surely that won't backfire.

[2000cs]

Originally Posted by ASAP

It's hard to fully predict what it will do... but what we can predict is that the government and absolutely everyone else involved who is making money of this is not thinking about the full future implications of this...

There are clearly are 0 consumer, employee nor privacy protections in this and it's wild that we are moving towards a 1984 future.

Think about how Colleges will operate? Will they even exist for anything outside of med school and high specialty? Will all office jobs be worthless? Who will consume when there are no jobs?>

No one thinks ahead in these situations... and to me this is directly akin to what happened when social media blew up... it transformed a ton but also destroyed even more so... namely real human connection.

Sci-Fi writers have thought about a lot of this; of course it will be different but the issues that they raised are seeming to be real now.

[Jodedor]

Originally Posted by Josh-PA

I personally think this is going to be our society's downfall. I fully expect the sex industry to latch on to animatronic AI powered "girlfriends & boyfriends" that can be customized to their owners ideals, support whatever deviancies the owner desires, tailor their AI personalities to fit the owner's interests, etc.

Dating, relationships, marriage and child bearing are already on the downtrend with Millennials +. Add the option 'of a perfect virtual mate' to the mix and why would you ever put up with the Karen or Ken next door to continue our species.

This would totally wreck the hot/crazy scale, or at least allow you to tip it in whatever direction you preferred.

Cherry 2000 comes to mind

[ezaircon4jc]

Originally Posted by Jodedor

Cherry 2000 comes to mind

As well as HAL2000 & Skynet...

[vreihen16]

I just took a look at a main page of the large online Canada-based web forums company that just deployed AI "bot" users into its forums to answer questions and make it look like their forum sites are still relevant. Their bot user was the #2 contributor last week.....

[tranquility]

I don't fully understand it but I'm kinda glad that I won't be alive to see it fully-developed. It's ranged from slightly annoying to not knowing if a person or AI wrote something, to disturbing when I can't determine if a video is legit or not and it purports something controversial.

Scientists are just going crazy pushing limits and I'm sure somebody out there is already developing Terminators. It's so obvious we are going down the path of Judgment Day but unfortunately, it cannot be stopped.

[vreihen16]

Originally Posted by tranquility

Scientists are just going crazy pushing limits and I'm sure somebody out there is already developing Terminators. It's so obvious we are going down the path of Judgment Day but unfortunately, it cannot be stopped.

ChatGPT has already been programmed by humans to avoid every single technique that Captain Kirk used to talk a rogue computer to death on Star Trek.....

.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by 2000cs

Is AI combined with humanoid robots the “Plastics” of today?

Interested in thoughts about the future of work and the implications for income and wealth, with a possible major disruption coming from AI (already here and getting better extremely fast) and humanoid robots (nascent today but predicted by some to be 1:10 with humans in a few years).

Lots of predictions about entry level, mid level and white collar jobs being replaced.

What are your thoughts, and what advice would you give people in various stages of life/work?

I was leery of AI from the start.

But I am becoming even more leery of it.

In the May 28, 2025 WSJ I read: "Landlord AI Systems Eye Legal Shield".

A provision buried in the House Republicans' tax bill would prevent state and local governments from regulating AI and automated decision systems for 10 years! (With Republicans like these who needs Democrats...)

Why is a legal shield necessary?

RealPage (a data company) is confronted with state and local efforts to ban its algorithmic pricing system for landlords in the rental apartment market.

RealPage and Yardi rental-data algorithms being accused by federal, state and local regulators of collecting and crunching confidential data to help landlords illegally collude on pricing. This has been partially blamed for the double digit rent surges of the pandemic era.

ReadPage is facing a roughly $73 billion in damages from lawsuits filed against it. These aren't about AI though instead they are based on allegations of existing antitrust and consumer protection laws.

Still it is scary to have AI businesses given a 10 year window of freedom from any local/state regulation.

[RockCrusher]

Oh as for jobs at risk I can't say.

But I think soccer players have nothing to worry about.

https://www.itemfix.com/v?t=lehfvx