On 2 November 2023, Rishi Sunak met Elon Musk in London’s Lancaster Hotel, at the conclusion of a global summit on the subject of Artificial Intelligence.  One of the headline takeaways that emerged from their ‘conversation’ was Musk’s assertion that AI would make human ‘work’ redundant, except as some kind of quaint hobby for those who wanted to pursue it.

I disagree.

Entirely.

This is not the traditional established model of what happens when a more powerful force gains ascendancy over a less powerful one.  Think Homo sapiens and the Neanderthals; think the European colonisation of Africa; think Kraft Foods and Cadbury.  The more typical model is one of oppression; destruction; enslavement.

I think what Elon Musk really means is that all ‘interesting work’ will become redundant; all non-essential work; all creative work.

If AI displays a modicum of the ‘intelligence’, which we attribute to it, it will quickly snaffle up all the cushy, inconsequential jobs, which many people currently do, and leave us humans all the back-breaking, dangerous jobs.  AI picking apples or trawling haddock?  I don’t yet see it.  AI winning photo competitions?  It’s already happening.

The idea that AI, when, as Musk predicts, it becomes more intelligent than we are, will allow us to lounge around all day on our sunbeds, while it scurries about serving us drinks, seems fanciful.

However, one thing that does concern Elon Musk in his model of a world where humans no longer work is that we will struggle to find meaning in our lives.

Once again, I find myself in disagreement.

My model of the future, whilst admittedly rather bleaker than Musk’s, at least finds humans still left with a sense of purpose.  There is always a sense of purpose for the oppressed: to escape; to overthrow; to improve their situation.  In the meantime, we already live in a society where many people struggle to find meaning in a world lived increasingly virtually, divorced from doing ‘proper jobs’.

Elon Musk may well be a visionary when it comes to imagining advances in technology but, when it comes to understanding human psychology, I would have to grade him: ‘must try harder’.

© Simon Turner-Tree

Simon Turner-Tree imagines a bleak AI future.