Jonatan Flyckt

[Andrew Ng @AndrewYNg]

There will be no AI jobpocalypse.

The story that AI will lead to massive unemployment is stoking unnecessary fear. AI — like any other technology — does affect jobs, but telling overblown stories of large-scale unemployment is irresponsible and damaging. Let’s put a stop to it.

I’ve expressed skepticism about the jobpocalypse in previous posts. I’m glad to see that the popular press is now pushing back on this narrative. The image below features some recent headlines.

Software engineering is the sector most affected by AI tools, as coding agents race ahead. Yet hiring of software engineers remains strong! So while there are examples of AI taking away jobs, the trends strongly suggest the net job creation is vastly greater than the job destruction — just like earlier waves of technology. Further, despite all the exciting progress in AI, the U.S. unemployment rate remains a healthy 4.3%.

Why is the AI jobpocalypse narrative so popular? For one thing, frontier AI labs have a strong incentive to tell stories that make AI technology sound more powerful. At their most extreme, they promote science-fiction scenarios of AI “taking over” and causing human extinction. If a technology can replace many employees, surely that technology must be very valuable!

Also, a lot of SaaS software companies charge around $100-$1000 per user/year. But if an AI company can replace an employee who makes $100,000 — or make them 50% more productive — then charging even $10,000 starts to look reasonable. By anchoring not to typical SaaS prices but to salaries of employees, AI companies can charge a lot more.

Additionally, businesses have a strong incentive to talk about layoffs as if they were caused by AI. After all, talking about how they’re using AI to be far more productive with fewer staff makes them look smart. This is a better message than admitting they overhired during the pandemic when capital was abundant due to low interest rates and a massive government financial stimulus.

To be clear, I recognize that AI is causing a lot of people’s work to change. This is hard. This is stressful. (And to some, it can be fun.) I empathize with everyone affected. At the same time, this is very different from predicting a collapse of the job market.

Societies are capable of telling themselves stories for years that have little basis in reality and lead to poor society-wide decision making. For example, fears over nuclear plant safety led to under-investment in nuclear power. Fears of the “population bomb” in the 1960s led countries to implement harsh policies to reduce their populations. And worries about dietary fat led governments to promote unhealthy high-sugar diets for decades.

Now that mainstream media is openly skeptical about the jobpocalypse, I hope these stories will start to lose their teeth (much like fears of AI-driven human extinction have).

Contrary to the predictions of an AI jobpocalypse, I predict the opposite: There will be an AI jobapalooza! AI will lead to a lot more good AI engineering jobs, and I’m also optimistic about the future of the overall job market. What AI engineers do will be different from traditional software engineering, and many of these jobs will be in businesses other than traditional large employers of developers. In non-AI roles, too, the skills needed will change because of AI. That makes this a good time to encourage more people to become proficient in AI, and make sure they’re ready for the different but plentiful jobs of the future!

[Original text in The Batch newsletter.]

[🪖MilitaryNewsUA🇺🇦 @front_ukrainian]

❗️"The only reason you are still sitting here calmly is because Ukraine is bleeding every minute." — Garry Kasparov at the Halifax International Security Forum

"If Ukraine is forced to accept Trump's 'deal', you will be next!"

[Adam Kinzinger (Slava Ukraini) 🇺🇸🇺🇦 @AdamKinzinger]

As a proud conservative, I’ve always put America’s Democracy and our Constitution above all else.  

And today, as a proud conservative, I am endorsing @JoeBiden for reelection!

[CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism]

A British writer penned the best description of Donald Trump I’ve ever read:

“Why do some British people not like Donald Trump?”

A few things spring to mind. Trump lacks certain qualities which the British traditionally esteem. For instance, he has no class, no charm, no coolness, no credibility, no compassion, no wit, no warmth, no wisdom, no subtlety, no sensitivity, no self-awareness, no humility, no honour and no grace – all qualities, funnily enough, with which his predecessor Mr. Obama was generously blessed. So for us, the stark contrast does rather throw Trump’s limitations into embarrassingly sharp relief.

Plus, we like a laugh. And while Trump may be laughable, he has never once said anything wry, witty or even faintly amusing – not once, ever. I don’t say that rhetorically, I mean it quite literally: not once, not ever. And that fact is particularly disturbing to the British sensibility – for us, to lack humour is almost inhuman. But with Trump, it’s a fact. He doesn’t even seem to understand what a joke is – his idea of a joke is a crass comment, an illiterate insult, a casual act of cruelty.

Trump is a troll. And like all trolls, he is never funny and he never laughs; he only crows or jeers. And scarily, he doesn’t just talk in crude, witless insults – he actually thinks in them. His mind is a simple bot-like algorithm of petty prejudices and knee-jerk nastiness.

There is never any under-layer of irony, complexity, nuance or depth. It’s all surface. Some Americans might see this as refreshingly upfront. Well, we don’t. We see it as having no inner world, no soul. And in Britain we traditionally side with David, not Goliath. All our heroes are plucky underdogs: Robin Hood, Dick Whittington, Oliver Twist. Trump is neither plucky, nor an underdog. He is the exact opposite of that. He’s not even a spoiled rich-boy, or a greedy fat-cat. He’s more a fat white slug. A Jabba the Hutt of privilege.

And worse, he is that most unforgivable of all things to the British: a bully. That is, except when he is among bullies; then he suddenly transforms into a snivelling sidekick instead. There are unspoken rules to this stuff – the Queensberry rules of basic decency – and he breaks them all. He punches downwards – which a gentleman should, would, could never do – and every blow he aims is below the belt. He particularly likes to kick the vulnerable or voiceless – and he kicks them when they are down.

So the fact that a significant minority – perhaps a third – of Americans look at what he does, listen to what he says, and then think ‘Yeah, he seems like my kind of guy’ is a matter of some confusion and no little distress to British people, given that:

• Americans are supposed to be nicer than us, and mostly are.

• You don’t need a particularly keen eye for detail to spot a few flaws in the man.

This last point is what especially confuses and dismays British people, and many other people too; his faults seem pretty bloody hard to miss. After all, it’s impossible to read a single tweet, or hear him speak a sentence or two, without staring deep into the abyss. He turns being artless into an art form; he is a Picasso of pettiness; a Shakespeare of shit. His faults are fractal: even his flaws have flaws, and so on ad infinitum.

God knows there have always been stupid people in the world, and plenty of nasty people too. But rarely has stupidity been so nasty, or nastiness so stupid. He makes Nixon look trustworthy and George W look smart. In fact, if Frankenstein decided to make a monster assembled entirely from human flaws – he would make a Trump.

And a remorseful Doctor Frankenstein would clutch out big clumpfuls of hair and scream in anguish: ‘My God… what… have… I… created?' If being a twat was a TV show, Trump would be the boxed set.”

-Nate White

[Tim Pang @Pangtim]

Köpte du en chorizo? Kabanoss? Vanlig eller stark senap?

[Republicans against Trump @RpsAgainstTrump]

🔥🔥🔥Seth Meyers nails it in 90 seconds.

[HV71 @HV71]

Den 24 november var Sanni Hakala med om en olycka på isen som fick omfattande konsekvenser. Nu kraftsamlar vi för att samla in pengar till Sanni som kan stötta henne i hennes rehab, hjälpmedel och framtida liv.

Swishnummer: [phone]

Läs mer på https://t.co/yhq4QhQdLr 💙💛🤍

#HV71

[TV4 Hockey @TV4_Hockey]

Djurgården har vänt! Lagkapten Marcus Krüger sätter kyligt 2-1-målet mot Kalmar, läckert framspelad av Wiktor Nilsson 🎯

[Jonatan Flyckt @jonatan_flyckt]

@SHLse @hallmanmarie @farjestad_bk Hade han varit hel i slutspelet i våras hade Djurgården varit i SHL, och Lindbom kvar i Djurgården.

[Sofialäktaren @Sofialaktaren1]

Stöd Sofialäktaren Tifo.
Swish: 1231769546

[Jonatan Flyckt @jonatan_flyckt]

@AntonHogsander Nya tag 2024.

[Kaknäsorna @kaknasorna]

DANSKJÄVLAR @DIF_Fotboll @Malmo_FF @DIFpodden @mpawlo @jarnkaminerna @DIF_nytt

[MrAbbasi @MrFarid]

@D92996683

[* DIF - STOCKHOLM * @Tomwhye1]

Isak Hien bör vara en stor inspirationskälla för många - det jag tycker imponerar mest med honom är hans inställning, alltid ödmjuk, svävar inte iväg trots enorm succé utan har hela tiden fokus på nästa träning eller match. 💛❤️💙

[* DIF - STOCKHOLM * @Tomwhye1]

Säljer först den här killen för 50 mille, hittar ersättare för typ 50 spänn i Vasalund som sen säljs för 40 mille, plockar tillbaka 50 miljoners killen gratis som ersätter 40 milleskillen.

Signerat Me Super Bo Andersson!

[Djurgården Fotboll @DIF_Fotboll]

Isak Hien klar för Serie A och Hellas Verona

– Jag har trivts väldigt bra ända sedan jag kom. Så det har inte varit ett lätt val men det här kändes som ett steg jag ville ta i min karriär, även om saknaden av Djurgården kommer att vara extreIsak Hien klar för Serie A och Hellas Verona

– Jag har trivts väldigt bra ända sedan jag kom. Så det har inte varit ett lätt val men det här kändes som ett steg jag ville ta i min karriär, även om saknaden av Djurgården kommer att vara extreIsak Hien klar för Serie A och Hellas Verona

– Jag har trivts väldigt bra ända sedan jag kom. Så det har inte varit ett lätt val men det här kändes som ett steg jag ville ta i min karriär, även om saknaden av Djurgården kommer att vara extreIsak Hien klar för Serie A och Hellas Verona

– Jag har trivts väldigt bra ända sedan jag kom. Så det har inte varit ett lätt val men det här kändes som ett steg jag ville ta i min karriär, även om saknaden av Djurgården kommer att vara extreIsak Hien klar för Serie A och Hellas Verona

– Jag har trivts väldigt bra ända sedan jag kom. Så det har inte varit ett lätt val men det här kändes som ett steg jag ville ta i min karriär, även om saknaden av Djurgården kommer att vara extrem

[Bosse Andersson @DIF_Boa]

Vilket jävla gäng!! 💛❤️💙

[AIK Fotboll @AIKfotboll]

3–0.

81’ | 🇨🇿 #FCSAIK 🇸🇪 | 3–0

[Erik Niva @ErikNiva]

Och herrejävlar, Djurgårdens IF - vilken 24-karatig ädelsten till internationell prestation.