Will artificial intelligence solve the ‘productivity paradox’?

(Nanowerk News) As AI-enabled products like Bard or ChatGPT aim to become part of everyday life, many questions arise — how does artificial intelligence affect work?

Louis Hyman, work and business historian at Cornell University’s School of Industrial and Labor Relations, argues that, like advances in technology before it, AI offers the potential to spur innovation, while making workers more productive, and more likely to free workers to do more. challenging and important work. At the same time, Hyman notes, AI can also be used to automate existing jobs and exacerbate inequality.

False fear: “ChatGPT automates mundane tasks and allows workers to focus on high-level tasks. The work that can’t be automated is what humans are meant to do, and it’s the kind of work humans truly enjoy — and it comes with a better paycheck.

ChatGPT tackles the Productivity Paradox: “The computer age had slower productivity growth than the industrial era because we didn’t use computers to automate our work. We use them like yellow pads. For most people, most of the time, the computer is the best typewriter. We do not use computers as computers, that is, as machines that can automate our work, giving up repetitive boring tasks that make us stare longingly at the clock.

Coding, Computer Science, Writing, Linguistics: “You don’t need computer science to code, just as you don’t need linguistics to write. ChatGPT does the coding for you so you can focus on solving problems.”

Organizational culture trumps technology: “We need to overcome our fear that robots will replace us. ChatGPT will replace mundane tasks, but not human creativity. We secretly worry that we, or our employees, are nothing more than those repetitive tasks. We can’t even imagine a world in which the same employees could do more. So, the challenge is not technological but social. Rebuilding our corporate social organization is much more difficult than just upgrading the software.”