This past week in Washington, America's tech titans met with President Trump to talk about, well, the future of humanity … specifically, will AI, artificial intelligence, mark the end of civilization as we know it?
asserted
we → meet → it
Only slightly less grave and only slightly less depressing, there's a related, more immediate question: Will AI take our jobs?
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AI → be → jobs
Real Jon walks out:
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Jon → walk → ?
So it is, we don't exempt ourselves in wondering: is any line of work safe?
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line → exempt → work
So far this year, U.S. companies have cited AI as the No. 1 reason for layoffs.
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companies → cite → layoffs
AI, after all, doesn't sleep, or take sick days.
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AI → sleep → days
Is this technology simply going to transform how and where we work, much the same way other workplace revolutions did?
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revolutions → go → ?
Here in this nondescript office in downtown San Francisco, these 20-somethings are designing the future of your workplace.
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somethings → design → workplace
You may not have heard of Mercor, but it's quickly become a leader in a booming new industry built around supercharging the already supercharged rise of artificial intelligence.
uncertain
it → hear → intelligence
Backstory: four years ago, ChatGPT came out and Foody and his two co-founders — high school buddies — saw where the technology was heading.
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technology → come → ?
To get better, AI needed more information than what was widely available on the internet.
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what → get → internet
AI went from this high-powered search engine to all of a sudden we're in astrophysics.
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we → go → astrophysics
We've gone from cutesy to holy moly in a very short amount of time.
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We → go → time
I think that's spot on.
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that → think → ?
And the core thing powering that huge transformation and the capabilities is human intelligence.
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thing → power → transformation
It seems like overarching goal, anything we humans can do, we want AI to be able to do.
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AI → seem → ?
I think a significant portion of things.
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I → think → things
Everything that humans want AI to be able to do — we wanna teach it how to do that.
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we → want → that
So what does Mercor do?
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Mercor → do → what
Well, when the big AI companies want, say, ChatGPT or Claude to improve in a particular field, they hire Mercor to make their models smarter.
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models → want → Mercor
Mercor has assembled an army of more than 100,000 freelancers — humans! — ready to use their hard-earned expertise to train the AI.
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Mercor → assemble → AI
I work late in the evening …
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I → work → evening
We met three such experts: Shawna Miller, a winemaker; Robbie Hiser, a music producer; and Melania Poonacha, a physician.
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We → meet → experts
When you're assigned a task, what are you actually doing?
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you → assign → what
How are you training AI?
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you → train → AI
On one project we were training the AI to be able to accurately interpret laboratory results.
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we → train → results
For a songwriting project, you might get two different versions of the same lyric.
uncertain
you → get → lyric
And then you go through and give feedback on it.
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you → go → it
All three have full-time jobs.
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three → have → jobs
Long-term, by spending hours teaching a computer the tricks of their trade, are they not training themselves out of a career?
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they → spend → career
No, they insist.
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they → insist → ?
Hiser believes that great songwriting, for instance, will always require the human touch.
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songwriting → believe → touch
AI doesn't have any life experience to pull from you know, an AI never had a girlfriend break up with it.
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girlfriend → have → it
JON WERTHEIM: Real-life inputs that impact songwriting in a way that–
ROBBIE HISER: Absolutely.
JON WERTHEIM: –the robots– yeah–
JON WERTHEIM:
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that → impact → way
I don't think so.
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I → think → ?
Ultimately, Brendan Foody foresees a utopia: advanced AI helping us cure cancer and tackle climate change.
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us → foresee → change
Liberated from the dullest parts of their jobs, they'll be more productive than ever.
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they → liberate → jobs
People still have this fundamental question, is my job safe from AI?
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job → have → AI
How do you answer that?
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you → answer → that
I think the key thing to look at is if you become more productive, is there more demand for your expertise in the economy?
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you → think → economy
…and 83 more, not listed.
The Aporia
