We Need to Talk About How Modern AI Tools Can Influence Work

In recent months, publicly-accessible AI tools have ignited interest in using artificial intelligence amongst businesses, and for good reason. While these tools are very, very limited in what they can do—which we will discuss here for sure—they still show enormous potential.

However, this potential introduces a few major questions to the conversation. Let’s examine some of them.

First, Let’s Address the Plagiarism of It All

These modern platforms, and indeed any AI-powered tool, rely on data in order to work. In the case of the platforms that have come to the forefront in recent weeks, this data is compiled from what is available on the Internet.

However, the Internet makes a lot of legally protected materials readily available, meaning that these tools were able to draw from these copyrighted works without recognition or recompense. Some examples have been spotted and shared online, where AI-generated paintings contain evidence of the source works, including scraps of the original artist’s signature appearing in the generated images. Running some AI-generated text through plagiarism detection services reveals that this text simply doesn’t pass the originality metrics needed to be acceptable.

So, there’s a lot that’s potentially problematic about using AI to complete certain tasks in its current state. Will this change? Perhaps—many tools are currently being considered to help resolve these kinds of problems, so there may be a future where these are more utilizable than they are now.

How Might AI Impact Employment?

With every new technology, job opportunities are simultaneously closed and created as new methods and means of accomplishing various tasks are generated. The advent of the camera made people who painted portraits less in demand, horses were replaced by the automobile, and so on and so forth. Some jobs have long been considered AI-proof, in a way, but these more “creative” AI applications are starting to disprove that.

While there is still the plagiarism aspect that will need to be addressed, there is now a real concern that these kinds of jobs—those that have some creative aspect to them—could also be rendered moot.

However, while it is true that some jobs will likely change drastically as these technologies develop, it is equally true that new opportunities will emerge as these technologies require new skills in the workplace if they are to be utilized to their full potential. For instance, even a short amount of time with tools like ChatGPT shows that crafting an effective prompt takes practice. An effective employee may simply be one that is better at creating prompts that produce the needed or desired result. This might also lead to a more hybridized process, AI doing the brunt of the work and human workers providing some polish.

Regardless of Where AI Goes, We’ll Be Here to Help You With IT

Granted, it will likely be some time before AI really plays a role in all business practices and processes…but it’s already started, and there’s no unringing that bell at this point. We’ll be here to help you manage the technology your business needs to remain competitive, just as we are now. Give us a call at (703) 743-3056 to learn more about what we can do for you.