Where is our "We choose to go to the Moon" moment in AI?

Reddit r/artificial News

Summary

The author critiques the narrative that workers simply need to upskill in AI, arguing that there aren't enough AI roles for everyone, and calls for a large-scale 'Moonshot' AI project that creates jobs rather than displacing them.

As a 56-year old engineer/project manager, I am cognizant of my precarious position in the line of being displaced. The media, CEOs, and politicians spew lazy rhetoric of 'you need to upskill yourself in AI', 'winners will be those who can successfully navigate AI', as if all the problem lies with the workers themselves, and everyone is just rejecting AI and chooses to use hand chisels. Here is the truth - there is simply not enough roles for all the workers trained in AI. For every success story of a worker in the new age of AI, there could be a few or even a dozen of those who have learned, prepared but not hired. I want to ask them back: where is the "We choose to go to the Moon" moment in AI. Kennedy's space race sparked the golden age of innovation in the US and around the world, and we are still enjoying the benefits of space-related innovations today. And created thousands of high-paying jobs. What about the Hoover Dam? That created a useful utility that is still standing today, and many jobs during the Great Depression. So no more Kennedys and Hoovers around in this age? So maybe the media, CEOs and politicians should stop thinking it is the workers who are lazy and not upskilling in AI, but think of themselves - have you got an idea "We choose to go to the Moon" in AI to rally everyone together for something worthy of the trillion dollar investment in AI? Something that could result in employment and not displacement. And not simply sacrifice the workers in vain.
Original Article

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