RISE of the MACHINES

AI - it's all anyone talks about these days. Businesses are pushing it into our daily lives at an alarming rate and, yes, ChatGPT is handy for presentations. But before you embrace large language models as your new life coach/ assistant/significant other, it's worth looking at some of the red flags and ripple effects.

- By Liesl Robertson

IF you were hoping for a soothing article about how AI is here to help, not hinder, I'm sorry to disappoint.

My main objective is to make your angst more well-rounded and multifaceted. (Just kidding... but also, probably not.)

If you work for a big corporate business, I'm guessing you've recently sat through an 'AI integration meeting' and you've heard some variation of, 'AI is going to help us. AI will take the grunt work out of everyday tasks. It won't take your job; it will double your capacity. You need to embrace it. Bow down to your robot overlords.' (That last bit was implied.)

Are you thinking, 'But I don't really even use AI'? Think again. The call is coming from inside the house. You have to actively go out of your way to sidestep AI these days, or keep it from pushing its feelers into every crevice of your work life. A simple Google search now involves AI, and even your Word documents are being 'analysed' by AI – unless you opt out.

The main problem is nobody really knows where this is going. But before you blindly accept your fate, here are some noteworthy studies, alarming titbits, red flags and interesting developments you need to be aware of before you embrace 'the future'.

IT'S BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT

There's been a lot of talk about how much electricity AI uses, which has been rapidly pooh-poohed as 'minimal'. But figures are murky, and they don't take into account escalating impact. 'The precious few numbers that we have may shed a tiny sliver of light on where we stand right now, but all bets are off in the coming years,' says computer scientist Sasha Luccioni.