A commonly used cliche about AI needs to be retired or revised. You might have said it. I have said it though not anymore.
You won’t get replaced by AI, you’ll get replaced by someone using AI.
While this may sound like good advice, it could be potentially awful.
While AI chatbots are an amazing breakthrough, they produce jagged intelligence (i.e., excellent, average, and hallucinations) in areas we have expertise and seemingly genius-level outputs in areas we know little.
If you lack what some call “zones of genius,” it may begin to explain why students and recent graduates have the lowest opinions of AI and they boo mentions of AI by graduation speakers. While younger Americans stand out for their use of AI, they have less favorable views. They believe AI will negatively impact society (47%) and them personally (37%) over the next 20 years compared to adults over 50 years old who say it will negatively impact society (37%) and personally (28%). Teens (aged 13-17) cite concerns about AI such as overreliance, loss of critical thinking and creativity, job loss, and misinformation.
Young students may wonder what’s the point of education, when they get a steady drumbeat of “AI jobs apocalypse” articles and AI chatbot outputs that seem genius-level because they can’t detect AI jaggedness. This helpless thinking can lead to intellectual atrophy from accepting AI outputs. The brain loses its ability to think deeply, solve problems, and remember. If you simply accept AI outputs, you will get replaced by AI.
A study found “knowledge workers must assess AI-generated content to determine its relevance and applicability to their specific tasks, often modifying the style and tone to align with the intended purpose and audience.” AI evaluation and customizing skills to thrive will require expertise, creativity, curiosity, continual learning, comfort with ambiguity, human engagement abilities, and empathy to achieve goal-directed outcomes.
If we were to revise the cliche, it may read:
You won’t get replaced by AI, you’ll get replaced by someone using who can effectively evaluate and leverage AI.