It feels like a while since many of us have been either fearful or concerned about the exponential development in the AI field, doesn't it?
Apparently, not so long... A little over 1 and a half years since ChatGPT became popular (November 2022) and with it started the AI race.
Now many have embraced the new AI tools, whether they like them or not. It's the future and, to some extent, the present. You either keep up or get left behind seems to be the competitive mantra.
Imagine resisting the smartphones revolution. when it came. Some tried (including myself for a while, lol), but eventually almost everyone switch over.
AIs are different because they are much more powerful tools. As such, in the wrong hands, they can produce a lot of harm, and they probably will. The discussion these days is that there will be other AIs ("the good kind") that will be able to discover and maybe keep in check the AIs that are used for nefarious reasons. We most likely won't be able to keep up with them on their various domains of expertise.
At some point they may become self-aware, but I don't believe we are in danger of that happening in the near future. However, we most likely won't be ready for it, when that moment comes...
Of course, there is significant emphasis on the effect of AIs on the job market. That already exists and will only expand.
All solutions I've seen discussed so far, and probably others I haven't seen, will have a massive societal effect because, let's be honest, for a long time, the ultimate goal in life for the majority of the population was to have a job (other than to have a family). Things have changed a bit and freelancing or starting your own business is at higher levels than in the past, but still, most people have a job.
I can live in a world without jobs, but it's not an easy one to live in. Testimony to that effect probably can give some of the people who tried to live exclusively off crypto and many were forced to look for a job (even in the crypto space) when the bear market hit.
The two, maybe three theories about what will happen in a post-job market are:
I tend to believe this will most likely happen, world-wide, in one form or another. And it will most likely happen via CBDCs, given how advanced researches and plans are to implement them almost everywhere in the world.
It's a solution I dislike profoundly for so many reasons, but governments probably won't lose this opportunity to have more control over their populations.
At the same time, most people are likely neither investors, nor business owners, nor gamers, and they will be hit by this transition to a no-job market the worse. I don't know if there is another solution different than UBI for them.
The bigger problem is finding them something to do. Because feeling useless is not a sentiment easy to bear, especially when you are still strong physically. That can easily lead to depression.
That was always an alternative to having a job (for someone else). And will continue to be an alternative. Even if people won't necessarily be as involved because AIs will take over many of the tasks for them, AIs will work for them. For their businesses or their assets.
This seems the best foreseeable alternative going forward, until or unless something else comes up that is more... inclusive.
In a way, assets can be built up even now by trading in your time. Even on Hive. So, it is more inclusive than in the past. But still, not enough people want to be business owners or investors.
Gaming in Web 3 is a way to trade your time for assets. Most gamers also have fun doing it, but some treat it kind of like a job, which perhaps is the wrong way of doing it, but who knows? Everyone tries different options in these changing times.
I see games as more than the Web 3 alternatives to their Web 2 counterparts.
I see them as a natural progression toward what many of us will be "playing" in the future: the Metaverse.
This may be something that isn't around the corner, but Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) is likely something future generations (and even us) will consider normal, and gaming is a way to train ourselves for that, especially people who haven't played video games when they were young.
All these digital assets we use in games, like land, a small business you need to grow, you as an artist in a NFT space, these can all be BIG things in the coming Metaverse. Depends on how that will be defined/developed and if it will be controlled by a few major corporations or opened like the internet, but having this transition period will definitely help. Games may transition entirely into the Metaverse when that becomes popular, who knows?
