AI is no joke, but comedian Jon Stewart is apparently always ready for a laugh when he stares into space at a possible human-assisted robot takeover. It’s his style, after all.
Last week, the former host of The daily show for over a decade and the current part-time moderator has been through The city with Matthew BelloniA podcast by The Ringer. Much like a late-night Paul Revere cover, Stewart warned listeners of the speed and damaging potential of an AI invasion.
“It’s happening to everyone and it’s going to decimate work in a way that we’ve never seen,” he told Belloni, comparing it to the industrial revolution in the sense that it changed the course Of the history. And unlike other historical periods of economic change, he believes AI disruption will happen in the blink of an eye.
“The AI is going to fuck this thing up in a week when it finally comes online,” Stewart said. He described it as an accelerated version of the level of destruction that the automobile and industrial revolution wrought on blue-collar workers.
Discussing how AI is trained on human labor to be a more efficient version of what it does, Stewart noted: “We aid and abet our own destruction; it does not mean anything.”
He added that the public will likely only see a basic version of what Silicon Valley has to offer, and that fully-realized confidential editions of their products are likely “terribly capable of replacing 70% of the workforce.” artwork “.
Calls for AI regulation have intensified recently, mainly focusing on The Hollywood scene for now but a storm is coming. Creatives in the music the industry, as well as the two writers Guild of America (WGA) and the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) have pushed back against the absolute use of AI, considered potentially harmful to art in general and to their work. Leaders could outsource their work amid the fight for fair wages. This is likely just the first wave of many, according to Stewart. It’s also not just for small fish, he cautioned. The sharks that befriend Silicon Valley also risk being threatened down the line.
“If you don’t think this is going to happen for development officials and everyone, you’re wrong, brother,” Stewart warned.
Last February, Tyler Perry said he put multimillion-dollar plans on hold to expand his studio after seeing Sora, OpenAI’s video generation technology. Expressing concerns about job losses, Perry said that at the rate technology is changing, it feels like “everyone in the industry is running a hundred miles an hour trying to catch up.” , to try to put in place safeguards.” Pushing for government involvement, Perry predicts that AI will change other sectors as well.
“AI is not going to replace you, the person who can use it will,” and expressions like this have become more and more common among people. CEO And rich entrepreneurs too. But that’s not really the whole truth, Stewart said. “What they’re saying to their shareholders is, ‘This will be a way to increase productivity without adding to the workforce,'” he said. The real question about AI “is how to use it as a tool without it becoming a factory,” he continued.
This isn’t the first time Stewart has raised red flags about our path to an AI-enabled world. “We’ve had technological advances before, and they’ve all promised a utopian, drudge-free life,” Stewart said. The daily show This April. “But the reality is they’re coming for our jobs.”
He warned that Silicon Valley will have to learn to pump the brakes if it is to avoid this disruption caused by AI. In this sense, an AI big bang is “not inevitable.” But unfortunately it will take a long time to put it back in the bag,” he said.
Of course, the government is also involved, although it is moving slowly. As Stewart said: “This is the most digital problem solved by the most preventive analog system. » He called the self-made political boomers lame ducks by asking OpenAI CEO Sam Altman for help.
He recalled how government figures welcomed social media with the same open arms and are now calling on leaders to try to hold them accountable for the damage they have caused. “Now how many times do these guys get called before Congress and say, ‘You’re making all our girls sad,'” he posited. “Everybody’s Urkel when it comes to all this shit,” he said, referring to the “too late” slogan. Did I do this?
