Will the government at some point step in to control Automation and AI in society?

[Braznor]

Surely efficiency and cost effectiveness is all good and dandy. But you gotta admit, excessive automation and use of AI in business and industries will eventually lead to catastrophic consequences for society in a terms of employment, safety etc. Sure there is an end Utopian dream that no one will have to work anymore and robots will do all the work for us, but this would only be feasible when there are infinite resources available for everyone to exploit without any shortages and consequences.

With the increasing AI and Automation in even lower jobs, even the low skilled jobs are bound to disappear in a decade or two. So at this point, I expect severe government regulations to protect the human workforce. what do you think?

 

[Billb2]

I thing you're not looking far enough ahead. AI developers and researchers are divided into two camps. Each camp is working to a different goal.

In the future AI can:
1.) Augment human existence.
2.) Replace human existence.

It's currently estimated that is 30 years or so AI will have the capability to completely automate civilization (automation) or completely replace the human body (we become non-corporal, digital data).

Either we exist in a completely automated world, or we exist as electronic data (with all the same thoughts, experiences and sensations we now have, just no bodies).

Also, in the near future population will be limited by the food supply. There will be more people than the earth can support. With AI developed and implemented the world will have all the food it needs and won't need the kind of populations we have today. Who decides what the future's population will be?

Society should be participating is deciding which way we go. The governments and politicians are clueless on these issues. It's the competing research camps that are making the decision now.

There's a great book on the subject:
Machines Of Loving Grace
The quest for common ground between humans and robots.
By John Markoff.

 

[feralkid]

 

[PeterScott]

Surely efficiency and cost effectiveness is all good and dandy. But you gotta admit, excessive automation and use of AI in business and industries will eventually lead to catastrophic consequences for society in a terms of employment, safety etc. Sure there is an end Utopian dream that no one will have to work anymore and robots will do all the work for us, but this would only be feasible when there are infinite resources available for everyone to exploit without any shortages and consequences.

With the increasing AI and Automation in even lower jobs, even the low skilled jobs are bound to disappear in a decade or two. So at this point, I expect severe government regulations to protect the human workforce. what do you think?

Nope.

Wealth will just keep concentrating more and more, until we have a handful of super rich.

At some point they will either tax the super rich enough to provide for the jobless, or there will be a bloody revolution to tear the system apart, creating work rebuilding society in the aftermath.

 

[Ns1]

Nobody seemed to give a shit when Excel and TurboTax wiped out lower level accountancy.

People adapt.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Doubt it, if anything, they tend to work against us and make our lives costlier and more difficult. They are always raising taxes, adding more laws, etc. So I can't see why they would do something to "save" us. They cater more to the big businesses instead. If anything they will subsidize businesses that use more automation and outsourcing, and spin it as a green thing.

The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, and the middle class will turn poor. Few will get some jobs created by automation (like fixing robots) but the rest will be left in the dust. Even those "new" jobs that will supposedly be created will probably mostly be outsourced.

Maybe at some point though people will grow so fed up of outsourcing (especially customer service type stuff) that companies may actually start to hire jobs like that in house again.

 

[ultimatebob]

Nobody seemed to give a shit when Excel and TurboTax wiped out lower level accountancy.

People adapt.

No it didn't... they just do seasonal work at the H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt offices now.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Excel and TurboTax are just tools to make an existing job easier, they didn't really replace anyone. Kinda like excavators did not replace construction worker jobs they just made their job easier. Though I guess one could argue that you don't need as many construction workers to dig a foundation than you would if they were doing it by hand. So yeah maybe they slightly reduce jobs but don't completely eliminate them. You replace houses with all prefab built via automation and now you don't need construction workers at all.

 

[paperfist]

I don't think I want governmental lobbyists writing laws on automation. Would could possibly go wrong?

 

[Red Squirrel]

I don't think they should ban it, but as a whole, governments need to do more to encourage more job creation. Give tax breaks to small businesses so they can afford to hire people, give tax breaks to people who buy locally (instead of the opposite - they give breaks for buying foreign but have sales tax locally) and overall just do things that encourage local job growth. Tax the hell out of outsourcing as well. Outsourcing is a bigger threat than automation right now and has been going on for a long time.

 

[Ns1]

Excel and TurboTax are just tools to make an existing job easier, they didn't really replace anyone. Kinda like excavators did not replace construction worker jobs they just made their job easier. Though I guess one could argue that you don't need as many construction workers to dig a foundation than you would if they were doing it by hand. So yeah maybe they slightly reduce jobs but don't completely eliminate them. You replace houses with all prefab built via automation and now you don't need construction workers at all.

LOL You gotta be kidding me. If you used to go to a cpa and now use turbotax, the CPA has been replaced. Excel has replaced teams of people doing nothing but spreadsheets.

Switchboard operators anyone? What ever happened to them?

 

[IronWing]

There's a slow train coming
It's movin' on down the line
Steel wheels on iron rails
Tonight I'm fixin' to die

http://www.mining.com/resolutes-syama-gold-mine-mali-fully-automated/

 

[DietDrThunder]

LOL You gotta be kidding me. If you used to go to a cpa and now use turbotax, the CPA has been replaced. Excel has replaced teams of people doing nothing but spreadsheets.

Switchboard operators anyone? What ever happened to them?

I never used an accountant for my income taxes, I did them by hand. I don't use tax software either as I still do my income taxes by hand. My taxes are just not that complicated.

 

[Red Squirrel]

LOL You gotta be kidding me. If you used to go to a cpa and now use turbotax, the CPA has been replaced. Excel has replaced teams of people doing nothing but spreadsheets.

Switchboard operators anyone? What ever happened to them?

I still go to an accountant. Just because you have a program does not make you an expert at something. Just like having an excavator does not suddenly make you an expert at operating heavy machinery. You still need someone trained for the job. By doing taxes yourself you are potentially losing out on lot of tips and tricks that a professional will know about to maximize your return. You are also risking making a mistake that could come and bite you in the ass decades down the line and you end up owning hundreds of thousands in backtaxes. I've heard lot of stories of that happening to people. I would never do taxes myself.

 

[ctbaars]

Yes. Right now. Not to protect the workforce but to protect citizens. In the form of minimum income distribution for all.

 

[nakedfrog]

I still go to an accountant. Just because you have a program does not make you an expert at something. Just like having an excavator does not suddenly make you an expert at operating heavy machinery. You still need someone trained for the job. By doing taxes yourself you are potentially losing out on lot of tips and tricks that a professional will know about to maximize your return. You are also risking making a mistake that could come and bite you in the ass decades down the line and you end up owning hundreds of thousands in backtaxes. I've heard lot of stories of that happening to people. I would never do taxes myself.

lol
Gotta make a LOT of money to owe hundreds of thousands.
Conversely, I've never heard of anyone I know having problems after doing their own taxes.

 

[Red Squirrel]

lol
Gotta make a LOT of money to owe hundreds of thousands.
Conversely, I've never heard of anyone I know having problems after doing their own taxes.

Has nothing to do with how much money you make. If you make a mistake, they will punish you and demand an absurd amount. It happened to my grandparents and also my sister and her husband and I've heard other stories too. Taxes is not something you want to mess with unless you are really good at accounting and know all the rules (which change often) etc.

 

[nakedfrog]

Has nothing to do with how much money you make. If you make a mistake, they will punish you and demand an absurd amount. It happened to my grandparents and also my sister and her husband and I've heard other stories too. Taxes is not something you want to mess with unless you are really good at accounting and know all the rules (which change often) etc.

What I'm seeing is that the Canadian tax penalties are percentages based on the overstated/understated amounts (and fairly small fines). Pretty sure that makes it directly related to how much money you make.

 

[zinfamous]

Yes, until the AI makes its own, better, AI Government to govern itself.

 

[BarkingGhostar]

Nobody seemed to give a shit when Excel and TurboTax wiped out lower level accountancy.

People adapt.

It started with VisiCacl on an Apple computer. Blame those two.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Nobody seemed to give a shit when Excel and TurboTax wiped out lower level accountancy.

People adapt.

If you were doing nothing but basic returns the likes of turbotax can do - maybe.

But believe me when I say, the job market is alive and well for accounting and tax Hell, part of the fun is that I implement the systems.... and for every system I implement there is another client who did it wrong originally... or has a solution that is heavily outdated and needs to be upgraded...

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

The only hope is a Matrix type of reality, not for "batteries" as that's silly, but a "place" which has no material resource limits. "Real" people wouldn't matter once the system reaches a certain level of complexity and sophistication.

If you don't know what is real, reality doesn't matter.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

LOL You gotta be kidding me. If you used to go to a cpa and now use turbotax, the CPA has been replaced. Excel has replaced teams of people doing nothing but spreadsheets.

Switchboard operators anyone? What ever happened to them?

What ever happened to mammoths? Did they become switchboard operators? No, because they had to compete with superior predators, us. Now what do people become once almost every economic opportunity can be done faster/cheaper/better than any human. What happens when every possible position is better done by machine?

You are thinking about humans competing with other humans for new jobs. I'm talking about humans competing with "superior beings".

 

[Darwin333]

Has nothing to do with how much money you make. If you make a mistake, they will punish you and demand an absurd amount. It happened to my grandparents and also my sister and her husband and I've heard other stories too. Taxes is not something you want to mess with unless you are really good at accounting and know all the rules (which change often) etc.

I'm with ya there. I'd rather get kicked in the nuts a dozen times than to get fucked with by the IRS. Those bastards are ruthless and they have the power to do all sorts of hugely fucked up things to you.

I knew a guy that had all of his accounts frozen for months by the IRS and at the end of it they made a mistake not him. If he didn't have family that was able to float him with cash he could have very well lost his house among other things. Fuckers didn't even apologize.

 

[Darwin333]

A better question would be, will AI step in and get rid of politicians?