The rise of AI and ChatGPT is freaking some people out.
Some say an automation depression is coming because at least 50% of all jobs will be eliminated.
This isn't the first time automation has caused a panic.
AI has been around long before ChatGPT.
The word automation comes from ancient Greece.
In Greek mythology, there are many references to self-moving machines.
The Greeks were able to design and build self-directed machines. There is evidence that they built a bronze automaton of an eagle and a dolphin that were on display at the Olympic Games.
Many of the automatons developed were only toys, such as the birds invented by Archytas (c. 428 – 347 BC).
Henry Ford created the assembly line, which changed how cars were assembled.
Today, robots do most of the work in car factories.
My nephew is an engineer at Ford who designed transmissions.
Electric cars don't have a transmission so he's moved on to a new position designing electric cars.
A few years ago I was in Milwaukee for my cousin's wedding.
Of course, we toured the Miller Brewery.
I was expecting to see a scene like Laverne and Shirley with a lot of workers on the assembly line.
Yes, we did see two workers standing by the conveyor belt with beer bottles zooming by.
These workers did nothing but stand there as thousands of bottles flew by every minute.
This plant brews 600,000 cases of beer every day.
You read that right.
600,000 cases every day and most are shipped to Chicago.
The cases are moved into a warehouse the size of a football field.
Every day they fill this warehouse to the top then move the beer onto trucks for the short drive to Chicago.
Not one person touches a case of beer.
Automated forklifts move the cases of beer into the warehouse and then move it onto the trucks.
The automation of the brewery eliminated thousands of jobs in Milwaukee.
What happens when jobs are eliminated by automation?
Different jobs are created.
The industrial revolution automated thousands of jobs.
The information age eliminated thousands of jobs and created even more jobs.
AI and ChatGPT will replace a lot of jobs but new jobs will be created as new products and industries evolve.
How do you think AI will change our lives? Respond and let me know!
