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AI threatens wages, not jobs - so far

ALSO: With AI chatbots, will Elon Musk and the ultra-rich replace the masses?

Author

Lavena Xu-Johnson
November 28, 2023

Hello! International agreement on AI safety gains signatures from 18 countries. The US, UK, and other major powers (notably excluding China) unveiled a 20-page document on Sunday that provides general recommendations for companies developing and/or deploying AI systems, including monitoring for abuse, protecting data from tampering, and vetting software suppliers.

— Lavena Xu-Johnson

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D.C.'s hottest new job: Chief AI officer

D.C.'s on a hiring spree for over 400 Chief AI Officers (CAIOs) by year-end, following President Biden's AI executive order. The Office of Management and Budget is guiding agencies on this mission, stressing the CAIO's pivotal role in steering AI strategy and accountability. Notably, the Government Accountability Office and Federal Election Commission are exempt. Salaries are hefty, with private sector CAIOs pulling in around $300,000—well above the government's cap at $212,100.

Some agencies have already scored CAIOs, like the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services. Advice from the pros emphasizes broad mandates, strategic reporting lines, and selecting CAIOs with managerial chops. However, success rides on agency support, especially when tackling accountability for cutting-edge tech like facial recognition and algorithmic risk assessments.

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With AI chatbots, will Elon Musk and the ultra-rich replace the masses?

Elon Musk's new ChatGPT competitor, Grok, raises concerns due to its alignment with Musk's controversial personality, regressive internet troll humor, and potential biases. The risks extend beyond the usual concerns associated with current AI technologies, such as hallucinations and inaccuracies.

Threat to discourse and user-generated content: The real danger lies in the widespread use of AI chatbots like Grok, particularly in user-generated content. Musk aims to attract subscribers to his premium tier with Grok, potentially amplifying the AI's impact. The fear is that Musk's AI, armed with a sycophantic following and the ability to generate persuasive opinions, could drown out authentic voices, destabilizing popular opinion and empowering wealthy individuals to manipulate public discourse.

Sports Illustrated reportedly published articles from fake AI authors

Sports Illustrated has been accused of publishing articles attributed to fake AI-generated authors, including "Drew Ortiz" and "Sora Tanaka." Futurism uncovered that the associated author headshots were available for purchase on an AI-generated image website, raising suspicions about the authenticity of these writers. When questioned by Futurism, The Arena Group, the publisher of Sports Illustrated, denied the AI generation allegations, but the fake writers promptly vanished from the platform. Interestingly, this incident echoes a similar controversy at Reviewed in October, suggesting a possible connection to a company called AdVon Commerce, known for providing "ML/AI solutions for E Commerce." Despite denials from The Arena Group, questions linger about the role of AI in content creation and the credibility of the publications involved.

AI threatens wages, not jobs - so far, ECB paper finds

Research from the European Central Bank reveals that the widespread adoption of AI has the potential to reduce wages. However, the current trend is not leading to job destruction; instead, it is creating employment opportunities, particularly for the young and highly-skilled workforce.

Employment trends in AI-exposed sectors: Despite concerns about the future of jobs, the study, which analyzed 16 European countries, indicates that sectors exposed to AI are experiencing an increase in employment. Low and medium-skill jobs remain largely unaffected, while highly-skilled positions see the most significant growth. The research highlights the challenges employers face in finding qualified workers, even during a recession.

Caution amid positive trends: While the current impact shows positive trends in job creation, the paper emphasizes caution. It notes "neutral to slightly negative impacts" on earnings and suggests that these effects could potentially intensify in the future. The research underscores that the full consequences of AI on employment, wages, growth, and equality are yet to be fully realized as AI technologies continue to evolve and be adopted.

AWS' transcription platform is now powered by generative AI

Amazon Web Services (AWS) has enhanced its Amazon Transcribe product, introducing generative AI-powered transcription for a whopping 100 languages, marking a significant expansion from the 79 languages it supported in late 2022.

Unveiled during the AWS re:Invent event, the update leverages self-supervised algorithms that trained on millions of hours of unlabeled audio data to improve accuracy across various languages and accents. AWS emphasizes its commitment to preventing over-representation of certain languages in training data to ensure accuracy parity.

The company reports a 20 to 50 percent accuracy range across languages, accompanied by features like automatic punctuation, custom vocabulary, and noise tolerance, providing users with versatile and powerful transcription capabilities.

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