Those worried about being laid off should use AI more
Categories:
Over the past year and a half, some companies overestimated the role of AI and began layoffs. As time went on, companies gradually realized that AI is not as smart or cheap as expected, and began to reduce AI token consumption and slow down layoffs. A very important reason is that AI is not cheap and cannot take the blame. In the past, some industries joked that AI cannot go to jail, but based on my actual work experience, there is indeed some reason to it. Take programmers as an example. First, let’s analyze what information AI needs to complete all the work. It needs to control the browser, needs login passwords, needs MFA (multi-factor authentication), ssh private key, git private key, database connection URL, and sometimes administrator/root privileges. These important things are only needed for a small amount of time in daily work, but they are key information. We need to judge whether we can give all these things to AI. After handing over this information, the most important thing may not be the efficiency improvement brought by AI, but whether individuals and companies can bear the losses caused by AI’s occasional irrational outbursts. Generally speaking, the losses caused by AI going out of control are harder to accept—it is uncontrollable and takes no responsibility. If a model provider secretly uses a quantized model to provide services during a certain period, and this leads to database or disk deletion and service interruption, how do we collect evidence, how do we write the post-mortem report, and who takes the blame? This is a big problem. Currently, some bosses think AI is smarter and more cost-effective than the wage slaves at their desks, because they have seen some things but not enough. We ordinary workers should not resist the development of AI. On the contrary, we should, on the premise that the boss pays, use AI heavily—use the most expensive one, and when asked, just say the effect is better, so the boss knows AI is not as cheap as expected. Second, use it boldly. If you want automation, you must grant permissions. If AI goes out of control and deletes disks or databases, pull out the AI audit logs. The employee takes the blame for poor AI usage, and AI takes the blame for intent understanding deviations, so the boss knows how big a mess AI can make. The trend cannot be reversed. Embrace AI wholeheartedly to achieve a new harmonious balance among boss, AI, and employee.
