Public have more fear than hope on AI and future of work, study finds

https://www.kcl.ac.uk/news/one-in-five-britons-think-ai-will-create-civil-unrest-study-finds

by geox • 2 months ago

59 43 2 months ago

kcl.ac.uk

jaspanglia2• 2 months ago

Yes i completely agree with this. As many employer say to employees this can be done by AI then what is the use of you guys. These kind of situtation are there

brianwawok• 2 months ago

But are they wrong? Should a warehouse have guys carrying around boxes on their back or have a forklift? How many people really want to carry boxes for a job for minimum wage?

Every tool for thousands of years has eliminated jobs. I don’t think the quality of life is down, compared to say the dark ages.

jaspanglia2• 2 months ago

You are right

dijksterhuis2• 2 months ago

How many people really want to carry boxes for a job for minimum wage?

There are a lot of people outside the realms of "HN" and adjacent lands for whom having any kind job is necessary for survival.

Should a warehouse have guys carrying around boxes on their back or have a forklift?

While we can optimize for efficiency -- why should we? for the sake of improved quality of life for those who can already afford it, via an ever increasing wage gap? why do we need to replace them? so a manager can pocket a few extra grand at bonus time? so there can be a few bigger numbers on a spreadsheet somewhere?

what if some of those people end up dying? do you think you could live with that? i know couldn't.

ericmcer2• 2 months ago

Well now the tools are butting up against the limits of what humans can do, and the people they are going to displace aren't just picking up boxes.

Workers who will be replaced now are already specialized and highly educated in a specific skill. Remember when Obama said that displaced miners and factory workers should "learn to code"? Well where do coders and other highly educated knowledge workers go once we get displaced? I am not disparaging miners more just wondering like... can you squeeze much more cognitively and emotionally out of workers?

It feels like we are closing in on the endgame of 100s of years of improving the tools.

_menelaus• 2 months ago

As someone trying to hire juniors the danger is this: they all just depend on AI now and don't think for themselves or add anything to it. And I have to tell them, if you just pass through my instructions to an AI you're worth $20/month. You're not even checking the responses. Some take this to heart, some don't. In other words it takes more maturity to realize how to be valuable in the AI world, since education trains people to complete rote tasks and they have to break that mindset to be valuable now.

10xDev3• 2 months ago

Funny, it seems Asian countries are more optimistic than Western countries [1]. Maybe this says more about the people running these countries than the technology itself. Technology is just a tool after all.

https://hai.stanford.edu/ai-index/2025-ai-index-report/publi... [1]

swingboy• 2 months ago

2024…as fast as AI changes, these studies should be done more frequently.

10xDev3• 2 months ago

2025 survey: https://www.pewresearch.org/global/2025/10/15/how-people-aro...

subjectsigma2• 2 months ago

[flagged]

10xDev3• 2 months ago

doesn’t make them any less dangerous in the wrong hands.

what do you think my comment said you halfwit.

muldvarp2• 2 months ago

There is literally nothing in it for me (all productivity gains will be pocketed by my employer) and there are many reasons to be afraid of it.

bluefirebrand2• 2 months ago

Not to mention it's way less enjoyable to use than just doing my job.

dieselgate• 2 months ago

I appreciate reading this sentiment and reminds me of "drum machines have no soul."

A common response is usually something like "now I get to focus on the actual engineering process rather than the code" but IMO it's sort of missing the bigger picture and is almost a coping mechanism. People should use whatever tools they want to be productive but enjoyment/happiness should not be thrown out.

gdulli2• 2 months ago

And the sad part is that it could be such a cool technology it had come about in an earlier time, before consumers and labor lost all their power. It's the combination of the era and the technology that's going to be bad for people more so than just the technology.

snovymgodym• 2 months ago

It would be cool technology today if we lived in a system that prioritized human dignity and general welfare over the desire of a handful of people getting obscenely wealthy.

expedition322• 2 months ago

Google Lens is handy. Other than that I'll pass on AI.

musicale3• 2 months ago

all productivity gains will be pocketed by my employer

This is the story of automation in general, and AI seems to be following the same path.

Public have more fear than hope on AI and future of work, study finds

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