> Many in my field think AI will take their job — I think otherwise. I'm now working as a Documentation Engineer, using LLMs daily to speed up my work.
Say that LLMs are increasing your productivity by 20%, just for argument's sake, and that a company used to have six technical writers, but one of them recently left. Why hire a new a replacement when the five remaining LLM-augmented writers can now do the job that six humans used to do?
That is how automation often replaces workers: not by doing 100% of what humans used to do, but by increasing their productive output.
Maybe you are lucky, maybe the company has an increasing need for writers and keeps hiring them. But maybe the productivity increases from ever-improving AIs are able to catch up with that increasing workload.
You're right, but history has shown that increasing the productivity also leads to increased demand, which is good news as long as humans remain involved for some percentage of the work
Increased productivity in one area doesn't necessarily increase demand in that same area. As jobs in a particular area are increasingly automated, workers in that field will often see a weaker labor market.
When you add the cost of education to the mix, automation often leads to progressively unemployable people that need to spend money they don't have in order to access a different job market.
Good luck! These are difficult times for workers. Our societies will eventually figure something out, but until then it is best to adapt to these rapidly changing circumstances to the extent of our abilities.
Say that LLMs are increasing your productivity by 20%, just for argument's sake, and that a company used to have six technical writers, but one of them recently left. Why hire a new a replacement when the five remaining LLM-augmented writers can now do the job that six humans used to do?
That is how automation often replaces workers: not by doing 100% of what humans used to do, but by increasing their productive output.
Maybe you are lucky, maybe the company has an increasing need for writers and keeps hiring them. But maybe the productivity increases from ever-improving AIs are able to catch up with that increasing workload.