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by atleta 1277 days ago
That's what people have been telling themselves for over a decade, I think. At least articles on news sites about who should be wary of AI and how much had been quite fashionable back then. And then people would respond with "yeah, it will probably automate away those other jobs and it will be able to do the simple and boring part of my work that unskilled/low-end people in my field do, but experienced/knowledgable dudes like me will always be in demand. It's just that our work will be more interesting." And you would hear lawyers and graphic designers and accountants respond with this same theme. (For some reason, software developers were always thought to be untouchable anyway.)

And then AI came a long way, improved to levels hard to imagine back then, it's already threatening programmers, but people just keep telling the same story. That somehow it will run out of steam below their level. If it can talk to a professional it can just as much talk to whoever talks to the professional now. (I mean, unless it gets stuck at a lower level.)

However, when people talk about the future dangers, they still keep looking at the current status quo and not at how fast it evolves. Of course, it's hard to predict, but it seems like some people don't even try and just judge based on what we have today. While what we have been seeing so far is that it's evolving faster than what most experts have expected.

Replacing doctors is probably further away, because being a doctor is like being an airline pilot: it's about trust big time. And everybody likes to think their doctor (or pilot) is especially good. Oh, and also doctors do have to interact with the real world, like examine the patient. (Programmers don't ;) )