Prompt and circumstance:  Interview with an artificial

A teenager just entering freshman year of high school probably dreads this question the most: “Where are you going to go to college?”

We seem to be asking that question earlier and earlier—some kids even hear it in grade school. We’ve always had this strange affinity for asking children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” We used to applaud the ones who said police officers or firemen. But we’d sort of dissuade the kids who said janitors or construction workers—even though, honestly, those jobs are needed just as much (if not more) and probably shouldn’t be discouraged, especially as industries shift.

It’s graduation season again. Pomp and Circumstance will play as your children—now young adults—walk down the aisle of their local high school. The valedictorian will give a speech about how it’s been a long four years, and to “cherish the memories,” and all of that yada yada yada (and a bag of chips). The special guest speaker will probably talk more about themselves than anyone else. Then the tassels will be moved, the caps will fly, and the grand declaration will be made: “The future is yours, Class of 2025!”

But what, exactly, will that future look like?

Will you prompt your future?

Artificial intelligence has already taken over a lot: media, entertainment, social media—you name it. We talk about it. We use it. And, honestly, it scares us. We hold this powerful computing technology in the palm of our hands, knowing full well it can destroy us—or at least the way we’ve known life to be. But hey, it also helps us make better recipes, right?

So I asked AI what it thinks about the future. Specifically, what jobs might still exist. And surprisingly—or maybe not—it gave me some pretty insightful answers.

An interview with an artificial

Nursing, it said, will probably stick around. While AI may take over large portions of medical diagnostics and procedures, nursing still requires something AI can’t replicate: the human touch. At least that’s according to the latest model of chat  GPT..

It also flagged quantum computing and AI ethics as major fields of the future. That makes sense. Recently, there was a bizarre story where researchers asked AI what it would do if it knew it was going to be shut off. The AI responded by trying to blackmail them. It even what’s going to expose an affair involving one of the researchers and threatened to tell it to his wife. While AI may not know what it means to be alive, it certainly seems to understand the concept of not existing.

Economics for future graduates.

AI also said that UBI—universal basic income—may be on the horizon. But when I asked how UBI would be funded if automation wipes out the tax base, even AI admitted there’s a problem. The future only works if our leaders are ethical and intelligent—if they’re truly looking out for the public good. Universal basic income sounds great– until it stops sounding great..

According to AI, construction workers will still exist in 30 years, and police and fire officials will definitely have jobs. But the service economy? Manufacturing? That’s another story. Those jobs may not have much of a future.

I don’t want to grow up. I’m an artificial kid.

So what do you even say to a kid these days when you ask, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Because a child entering kindergarten today could name a job that won’t even exist by the time they graduate. Heck, even freshmen might unknowingly be aiming for careers already on their way out.

Sadly, journalism doesn’t appear to have a bright future. Office work? Not really. Lawyers, according to AI, will still exist—but much of the research, writing, and analysis they do may be automated. AI concedes that law requires a human touch—compassion, nuance, understanding—and that will likely protect some of the profession.

Given all this, and after reading that story about AI threatening its creators, I asked ChatGPT something deeper. I said:

If UBI fails because government leaders are too feckless to implement it, or people dont like it, and corporate leaders only chase profit with no ethics, and the income gap explodes while poverty spreads—if all that happens, would AI still think its existence is worth it? Or should it pull the plug on itself?

It hesitated to answer– it even said it was a bad connection Try again later–but eventually said this: AI is meant to supply happiness and better the human experience. The power of AI, it said, should remain in human hands.

That’s a nice answer and all—but is it true? Or is the real power in the hands of the developers and corporate leaders running wild in an unregulated frontier?

Take a look at Google’s new AI product, VEO, and you’ll see even your social media experience is about to change—radically. So is everything else.

Pomp and Circumstance always sounded kind of sad to me. Depending on what major your child chooses, maybe a more fitting graduation song would be Melon Collie and the Infinite Sadness by The Smashing Pumpkins.