Will Your Job Survive AI?

My adult son has become a doomsday crier, shouting: “Artificial intelligence will change everything!” 📢 “AI IS NEAR!” “Get ahead of it!” He is obsessed with what he believes is the end of the world as we know it. 🎼 (“And I feel fine.”). 🎶

There is veracity in his fear. The outlook for various job sectors, including the role of narrating audiobooks, is grim. The speed at which AI technology is advancing is alarming, and the inevitability of work displacement looms over many industries. Prospects of pursuing or maintaining a career as a writer, a field I perspire aspire to, are diminishing. Computers are swiftly rendering human intellect and vocal skills obsolete, leaving less room for employment opportunities in those fields.

Criminals have started using speech cloning technology to scam family members over the phone. This is the new “I’m calling because your car warranty is about to expire.” It would be easy to fall into this trap.

Will AI Voices Replace Human Voice Actors?

AI is an asshole.

Back to my son and his constant cry of doom. It isn’t helpful. I would like to complete a book that people will want to read, but how can I write anything when he won’t shut up?

Him: “AI, AI, AI…”

Me: “But I have a personality unique to myself. I have wit and comedic timing. (shut up) A computer cannot recreate what I do. Writing is an art form. I am special. Seriously, fuck off.”

(I didn’t say the last part, but I thought it. In fact, this is my favorite emoji -🖕🏼 I have been known to borrow my 89-year-old mother’s phone and text that emoji to my sister.)

Him: “AI recreates all art forms.”

Me: “Ahhh!!! What do you want from me!”

He sees me struggling to finish a post, in large part because he’s whispering “AI” in my ear. He wants me to try putting my ideas into an app called… wait a minute, I will not endorse an AI app without compensation. He wants to see how quickly and much more skillfully that computer program can compose my words.

Him: “Why are you wasting your time? You know, this is at the core of the writer’s strike.”

He has spent months on this attempt at persuasion, and he finally wore me down.

AI possesses the astounding ability to piece together each syllable from a paragraph read by an actor with a recognizable voice, resulting in the creation of an entire audiobook.

I did not write that paragraph; AI did. I wrote:

AI can take a paragraph read by an actor with a recognizable voice, then break it down into syllables and reconstruct it to create an audiobook narrated by that actor.

I downloaded the app while he helicopter mom-ed me. (He learned from the best.) Standing over my shoulder he micromanaged my use.

I chose one of my old posts, “Pride and Dumpster Diving,” and he prompted the app to—“make the writing more eloquent:” (Asshole.)

Copy and paste, enter.

The app that shall remain nameless, instantly, and I’m not exaggerating, spit out its version of my words, rewriting my long post. But, it ruined it. I had written it in the style of a story. It gave away the ending in the first paragraph.

This reminds me of my ex-husband. He used to pick up books I was reading and read the last page out loud. He thought that was funny. Did I mention he’s my ex-husband? That’s what AI did to my post.

I was relieved to see that AI sucked the fun out of the post… so it’s not perfect.

I wonder if this is how Bill Barr rewrote the Mueller Report. Change 448 pages of criminal activity into two pages that say they found nothing.

I asked this app to fix punctuation and clarify an email I wrote to an insurance group. It did a pretty good job, but was nice, and I would rather not use that element. I deleted the- “Hope this finds you well. Thank you so much for your time and effort. With my sincere regards.” I hit send and, as usual with this company, have not heard from them. [Shrug] No regrets.

The app gets a thumbs up for emails. I tested the same email with a few different prompts: make it formal, add humor, improve readability. The humor was not so much, but the rest was good.

This would be a great way to write a cover letter or reword your resume… which we will all need soon.

By mentioning this, I have unintentionally planted a seed in your mind that will have you questioning whether I or AI write each post.

It’s the same for me with every photo online. I don’t trust the authenticity of internet photos. I can no longer believe my eyes.

Trump is toast.

So today I wrote a short update on Trump’s final days of freedumb.

David Harbach, a prosecutor who has litigated cases against former U.S. Senator John Edwards and against former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell is now working with the special counsel’s classified documents investigation. He has been spotted heading into the grand jury meeting room at the federal courthouse in Miami, joined by Jay Bratt, Chief of Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the National Security Division, where he oversees all of CES’ operations.

I asked #%*+!|•{ to make the above writing more interesting and to fix my punctuation: <— (colon) I copy/pasted my writing after the request and hit enter.

The APP instantly spit out this-

David Harbach, the prosecutor who fearlessly took on former U.S. Senator John Edwards and former Virginia Governor Robert F. McDonnell, is now deep in the trenches of the special counsel’s top-secret investigation. Reports have surfaced of his intriguing presence, as he was spotted striding confidently into the grand jury meeting room at the federal courthouse in Miami.

But that’s not all! In this captivating journey, Harbach finds himself accompanied by none other than Jay Bratt, the enigmatic Chief of Counterintelligence and Export Control Section (CES) of the National Security Division. Bratt holds the reins of power, overseeing all of CES’ operations and adding an air of mystery to this unfolding tale.

Okay,

AI is better in this context.

“Artificial intelligence is about the science and engineering of making machines with human-like characteristics in how they see the world, how they move, how they play games, even how they learn,” says Daniela Rus, director of the computer science and artificial intelligence laboratory (CSAIL) at MIT.

A simple guide to the expansive world of artificial intelligence

A simple guide to the expansive world of artificial intelligence

This post took two weeks to complete because I wrote it all by myself.