AI + ML
Jobs that will be eradicated by AI overlords
The UK government will work with supplier Anthropic to build an artificial intelligence (AI) assistant for job seekers, despite the chief executive’s pessimistic view of the jobs market.
Yes, I can see the irony.
The Department of Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) said Anthropic would help the government build and pilot assistants to help support people in specific situations, starting with “providing bespoke career advice and helping to lock in jobs”.
The pilot is expected to begin later this year.
Earlier this week, Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei released a magnum opus detailing, among other things, how he expects AI to disrupt the job market.
Regarding the speed of AI development, he said, “The short-term transition will be unusually painful compared to past technologies because humans and labor markets will be slow to react and equilibrate.”
The breadth of tasks that AI can perform “will make it difficult for people to easily move from jobs that are demanding to similar jobs that are more suitable for them,” he said. “Eventually AI will be able to do anything, so we need to work on it.”
The jobseeker pilot is one of several announcements made by the government as part of what DSIT calls an “intensive week of action” on AI. This includes commissioning a group of UK AI experts to develop open source tools to support public services, and Meta is funding a fellowship program run by the Alan Turing Institute with $1 million (£730,000).
The project includes AI analysis of video and images of transportation infrastructure to help local governments prioritize remediation efforts, as well as AI services that can run offline or within a secure network to help protect sensitive data.
DSIT also announced that it will open up access to a series of online AI training courses through its AI Skills Hub, with the aim of providing technology skills to 10 million workers. The hub, which can be accessed by setting up an online account, includes free courses from the Hartley Center for Universities and Science and Technology Facilities Council.
However, two-thirds of the 36 free one-hour general beginner courses are provided by technology vendors: 11 courses from Amazon, 8 courses from Microsoft, and 7 courses from Google.
One review of Microsoft’s “Getting Started with Microsoft 365 Copilot” describes it as more of an advertisement for Copilot than a training course.
The Ministry of Education said it is working to build an AI-powered tutoring tool that provides children with one-to-one learning support co-designed by teachers, and is expected to be available in schools by the end of 2027.
