The quote „AI Will Not Replace You, People Using AI Will“ comes from the English-speaking world and translates into German as „Artificial intelligence will not replace you. People who know how to use artificial intelligence will replace you.“
The quote refers to the current rapid developments in the field of AI (Artificial Intelligence) and the concerns of many people that AI tools will replace millions of jobs and drive just as many people into poverty. The quote „AI Will Not Replace You, People Using AI Will“ is meant to draw attention to the fact that AI cannot replace anyone, but people will be (or already are) able to make human work redundant who understand how to use AI effectively. So the quote is meant to motivate people to engage with AI and learn how to use the tools.
What are people’s concerns about AI?
Free of any science fiction scenarios such as robots taking over the world, many people are afraid that AI will ruin their lives. They worry that their workplace will become automated and their human skills redundant.
These worries are not unfounded, as the rapid development and progress of AI has already led to many jobs being automated, which only increases fears and uncertainty about the future of work.
Are these people’s concerns well-founded?
To some extent, the fear that AI will replace jobs is well-founded. Many simpler tasks that were previously performed by humans can and will increasingly be performed by AI. This applies especially to manual, repetitive or rule-based work. These types of jobs could already be increasingly performed by AI in the near future, which would cost human workers their jobs. However, it is important not to disregard the potential that AI brings with it.
This is precisely what the quote is trying to point out. Because AI is capable of making new occupations and professions necessary and at the same time making current occupations many times more efficient and productive. People who are able to use AI properly can use artificial intelligence to increase their creativity, efficiency, innovative power and productivity. Especially in professional fields that require emotional intelligence or creativity, AI will become an indispensable tool that, at least in the near future, will not be able to perform the activities on its own.
The quote „AI Will Not Replace You, People Using AI Will“ points out that the responsibility lies with people to continuously educate themselves and learn the necessary skills to keep up with the changes in the world of work. Similar to past technological developments – such as computers and the internet – those who take advantage of the new skills and opportunities will succeed. Also with this new technology, those who are able to use the technology effectively and, above all, adapt to the new demands will benefit. On the other hand, people who are not willing or able to engage with and learn the new technologies will fall behind and find it difficult to compete in the high-tech world of work.
Adapting to the AI-driven world of work also requires a shift in the way we think about AI. Because instead of seeing AI as a threat to the human workforce, we should see it as a tool that makes our work easier and improves our results.
Only by humans and AI working together can synergies emerge that can bring about change for the better, both for individuals and for society as a whole.
What is AI (artificial intelligence)?
Artificial intelligence (AI) refers to computer-controlled software tools that can perform tasks that would normally require human intelligence. These include, for example, skills such as linguistic and visual understanding, abstract thinking, decision-making and the transfer of skills to other areas. Probably the best-known AI tools currently include ChatGPT and Dall-E, both developed by OpenAI, as well as MidJourney.
ChatGPT is a language model based on the GPT-4 architecture that has been trained on an unimaginably large amount of text. The tool has a human-like understanding of text and is therefore able to grasp complex contexts and produce texts that read as if a human had written them. In addition, ChatGPT can generate code, for example.
Dall-E and MidJourney are image generation programmes that can create photorealistic images based on text input. For all these tools, the development of capabilities has been exponential in the last 18 months, which is a cause for concern for many people.