Coping With the Impending AI Talent Takeover (With Pure Delusion!)

I can't say that I was too thrilled with the GMA News AI news presenters' debut last Sunday. And neither were they, by the looks of the broadcast (Maia and Marco could've benefited from some Cobra or coffee for the broadcast, I feel). There's a lot to unpack here amidst this very public, very whitewashed small image of dystopia we've been flashed with. The baseline consensus was that this was outrageous. The reasons are pretty complex.

The first of which may be the simplest: is this the start of AI journalism? GMA News cleared this up. We are told that they're not journalists, they're just "presenters." But then again, in a few years' time, who's going to care about the difference anymore? Journalists will never be replaced, we are reassured. I'm sure we all want to believe that.

There's the fact that these AI faces just reaffirm Filipino beauty conventions and reinforce certain physical biases, too. A long discussion on social aesthetics and a reinforcement of sad values.

We can also argue that this move is unethical. While it's "cutting-edge," the idea of AI news presenters seems to compromise the integrity of the profession and the act of delivering quality information. But then again, AI-integrated media (under corporate banners like "digital media transformation) was always the endgame, and it was ideally supposed to be used as a tool (for now, before it makes a tool out of us in a decades' time) to help make information more efficient in production and more accessible in delivery.

The introduction of Maia and Marcos also opens up a whole conversation about AI integration and the lack of regulation (so far) in our professions. How we haven't learned anything from how badly we fumbled social media, reducing it to yet another institution for pleasure, authority, and commerce. It shows us how expendable a lot of jobs are today (journalists, included) in the hands of corporations who (will unavoidably) act in bad faith. AI doesn't care about bad faith.

See, AI is likely going to replace 300 million full-time jobs in the near future if we were to believe a report by investment bank Goldman Sachs. A billion people could lose their jobs in the next decade, especially workers whose industries deal with data analysis, image recognition, and natural language processing.

It's the big-ass elephant in the room: this collective anxiety we have about AI taking over our jobs. It's inevitable, we're told, and with the rate tech has gone in the past two decades, who knows how soon is soon? We are asked to get with the program. We should trust corporations and our bosses not to misuse it, and to have faith that they'll always put humanity and truth over profit, first. We have to believe that we're not going to lose our jobs after we train the technology for X years. We have to understand that this is what progress looks like and that there is no resistance to be had here. This is the future.

Sure.

Fortunately, the AI Copium Sheet Is Here!

Hey, don't fret. We just need to keep telling ourselves that...

They're just sportscasters. What's the big deal, people?

Come on. They're just sportscasters, not real reporters. These jobs were always meant to be obsolete in a fast-paced, digital-savvy world. In the end, it's about experience, skills, and the human element that will set you apart!

AI is inevitable, right? We just need to upskill. Duh.

We need to upskill! It's our responsibility to be better, hello! The company can only do so much. I need to get as many certificates and attend as many training sessions as humanly possible. AI can't be as hard a worker as I am. It doesn't know the perseverance and skill it takes to do my job. I create shareholder value every day and my company will see that. AI can't beat my folder of certificates and perfect attendance and experience and humanity, that's for sure.

I trust my bosses. I'm sure they won't ever cut their friends loose...

Could my boss replace me, a real human being, with more efficient, heartlessly manufactured, and cheaply licensed AI talent that doesn't need to be paid, cared for, or thought about? Of course, they won't. They love me!

That's why I need to train our AI systems to the best of my abilities. All this is for the company's goals. So I can feel validated when the next corporate newsletter comes, I just know they'll thank me in the last paragraph!

Companies surely won't misuse AI, right? We're a family here!

They would never! We talk a lot in the pantry room. How could they possibly have bad intentions for me? They just want the company to grow. I want the company to grow, too! That's all.

We're definitely going to handle this better than social media. We learned so much from that.

Sure, social media literally influenced elections, changed political and economic climates, poisoned people's brains, and led to real-life violence at times, but we're definitely not going to let that happen with AI!

Let's play devil's advocate here for a second (because it's just so fun to rationalize dehumanizing people!): isn't this cutting-edge technology working to make things better? Maybe some people are just afraid of progress...

Right? People are just too sentimental and close-minded. Be rational, you guys! This is the future and it's easy to criticize something you don't understand! Think about the profits our bosses are going to make without having to shell out actual salaries!

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AI will never replicate the "human element" in my work.

AI will never be me. I am special and so different from the rest of the general population. I am the only one like me, and AI can never replace the vibes I bring to the workplace... yet.

It's impossible for AI to enter my field.

What's next? AI doctors? AI lawyers? AI presidents? Ha. Ha. To hell with these other jobs. It's their fault for going into media, transportation, accounting, or data processing anyway. Sorry to say, but that's just the way things are for you guys. For me, I like to see AI try. Checkmate, AI!

Only losers worry about AI taking over their workplace. It's about adapting, you guys!

Ethics is so subjective anyway. You guys just don't get how AI can empower the economy!