{"id":5473,"date":"2023-01-24T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-24T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/?p=5473"},"modified":"2023-01-18T15:09:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-18T15:09:28","slug":"ai-and-the-future-of-work-5-experts-on-what-chatgpt-dall-e-and-other-ai-tools-mean-for-artists-and-knowledge-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modernsciences.org\/staging\/4414\/ai-and-the-future-of-work-5-experts-on-what-chatgpt-dall-e-and-other-ai-tools-mean-for-artists-and-knowledge-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"AI and the future of work: 5 experts on what ChatGPT,\u00a0DALL-E\u00a0and other AI tools mean for artists and knowledge\u00a0workers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Could AI be your next colleague \u2013 or replacement?\n PhonlamaiPhoto\/iStock via Getty Images<\/a><\/span>\n <\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n\nLynne Parker<\/a>, University of Tennessee<\/a><\/em>; Casey Greene<\/a>, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus<\/a><\/em>; Daniel Acu\u00f1a<\/a>, University of Colorado Boulder<\/a><\/em>; Kentaro Toyama<\/a>, University of Michigan<\/a><\/em>, and Mark Finlayson<\/a>, Florida International University<\/a><\/em><\/span>\n\n

From steam power and electricity to computers and the internet, technological advancements have always disrupted labor markets, pushing out some jobs while creating others. Artificial intelligence remains something of a misnomer \u2013 the smartest computer systems still don\u2019t actually know anything \u2013 but the technology has reached an inflection point<\/a> where it\u2019s poised to affect new classes of jobs: artists and knowledge workers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

Specifically, the emergence of large language models \u2013 AI systems that are trained on vast amounts of text \u2013 means computers can now produce human-sounding written language and convert descriptive phrases into realistic images. The Conversation asked five artificial intelligence researchers to discuss how large language models are likely to affect artists and knowledge workers. And, as our experts noted, the technology is far from perfect, which raises a host of issues \u2013 from misinformation to plagiarism \u2013 that affect human workers.<\/em><\/p>\n\n

To jump ahead to each response, here\u2019s a list of each:<\/em> <\/p>

<\/p>\n\n

Creativity for all \u2013 but loss of skills?<\/a>
\nPotential inaccuracies, biases and plagiarism<\/a>
\nWith humans surpassed, niche and \u2018handmade\u2019 jobs will remain<\/a>
\nOld jobs will go, new jobs will emerge<\/a>
\nLeaps in technology lead to new skills<\/a><\/p>\n\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n\n

Creativity for all \u2013 but loss of skills?<\/h2>\n\n

Lynne Parker, Associate Vice Chancellor, University of Tennessee<\/strong><\/p>\n\n

Large language models are making creativity and knowledge work accessible to all. Everyone with an internet connection can now use tools like ChatGPT<\/a> or DALL-E 2<\/a> to express themselves and make sense of huge stores of information by, for example, producing text summaries.<\/p>\n\n

Especially notable is the depth of humanlike expertise large language models display. In just minutes, novices can create illustrations for their business presentations<\/a>, generate marketing pitches<\/a>, get ideas to overcome writer\u2019s block<\/a>, or generate new computer code<\/a> to perform specified functions, all at a level of quality typically attributed to human experts.<\/p>\n\n

These new AI tools can\u2019t read minds, of course. A new, yet simpler, kind of human creativity is needed in the form of text prompts to get the results the human user is seeking. Through iterative prompting \u2013 an example of human-AI collaboration<\/a> \u2013 the AI system generates successive rounds of outputs until the human writing the prompts is satisfied with the results. For example, the (human) winner of the recent Colorado State Fair competition in the digital artist category<\/a>, who used an AI-powered tool, demonstrated creativity, but not of the sort that requires brushes and an eye for color and texture. <\/p>\n\n

While there are significant benefits to opening the world of creativity and knowledge work to everyone, these new AI tools also have downsides. First, they could accelerate the loss of important human skills that will remain important in the coming years, especially writing skills. Educational institutes need to craft and enforce policies<\/a> on allowable uses of large language models to ensure fair play and desirable learning outcomes. <\/p>\n\n

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