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Have you ever worried that some technological advancement – say, some type of artificial intelligence program – could put you out of work? As a journalist, I have to confess to glancing in the rearview mirror, figuratively speaking, to see if some advanced editing robot is gaining on me.
In 2021, image generator DALL-E was released, followed by the AI-powered text generator ChatGPT last year. Both tools put the spotlight squarely on artists and knowledge workers. 2023 is expected to bring GPT-4, the next leap in AI that can produce convincing text.
We asked five artificial intelligence researchers what these new AI tools mean for people who create visual art and those who absorb information and write about it. The answers, from University of Tennessee’s Lynne Parker, University of Colorado Anschutz’s Casey Greene, University of Colorado Boulder’s Daniel Acuña, University of Michigan’s Kentaro Toyama and Florida International University’s Mark Finlayson, cover a good deal of nuance between “a machine is going to replace you” and “you’re about to become super productive.”
These experts don’t have a crystal ball, of course, but they do have some insights about the kinds of skills that will become increasingly important for working with our new AI colleagues – er – tools.
Also today:
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Eric Smalley
Science + Technology Editor
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Could AI be your next colleague – or replacement?
PhonlamaiPhoto/iStock via Getty Images
Lynne Parker, University of Tennessee; Casey Greene, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus; Daniel Acuña, University of Colorado Boulder; Kentaro Toyama, University of Michigan; Mark Finlayson, Florida International University
Now that AI systems can generate realistic images and convincing prose, are creative and knowledge workers endangered or poised for productivity gains? A panel of experts says it’s not so clear-cut.
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Environment + Energy
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Amir AghaKouchak, University of California, Irvine
Mudslides start with destabilized land, often from wildfires, and then rain drives the cascading disaster.
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Jonathan Levy, Boston University
Natural gas has been marketed for decades as a clean fuel, but a growing body of research shows that gas stoves can contribute significantly to indoor air pollution, as well as climate change.
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Stacy Morford, The Conversation
A monster hurricane, destructive storms and a drought that disrupted business across the economy led the list of the year’s costliest disasters.
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Health + Medicine
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Grace Shih, University of Washington
The FDA’s allowance for pharmacies to dispense mifepristone will broaden access to the two-pill mifepristone-misoprostol regimen of medication abortion, which is 95% to 98% effective.
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Politics + Society
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H. Colleen Sinclair, Louisiana State University
Language can provoke violence between groups especially when people paint others as threats.
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Jeffrey Fields, USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences
What are classified documents? Who gets to see them? What happens if they are released? A former State Department and Department of Defense staffer who had top secret clearance provides the answers.
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Education
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Walter G. Ecton, Florida State University; Carolyn Heinrich, Vanderbilt University; Celeste K. Carruthers, University of Tennessee
Taking a job while in college may put graduation out of reach for some students.
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Science + Technology
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Huanhuan Joyce Chen, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering; Abhimanyu Thakur, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering
Many tumors have cancer stem cells that help them grow and evade treatments. Differentiation therapy forces these cells to mature, stopping growth with less toxicity than traditional treatments.
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Global Economy 2023
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Stéphanie Matteudi-Lecocq, Université de Lille; Jim Stanford, University of Sydney; Marick Masters, Wayne State University; Nabiyla Risfa Izzati, Universitas Gadjah Mada ; Phil Tomlinson, University of Bath; Rubén Garrido-Yserte, Universidad de Alcalá
With real wages in many countries having been stagnant for years, the inflation surge has brought unions back to life.
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Nada R. Sanders, Northeastern University
Companies around the world are rapidly reshoring factories, investing in new technologies and building their inventories – shifts that all mean higher costs for consumers.
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