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Right now the US needs to stimulate the economy without driving up labor costs and it looks like AI/ML could be to the rescue in the nick of time. AI/ML have the ability to increase productivity even in the professions. AI/ML has the ability to increase production in everything not only from much physical work, but in the professions. An example is forty percent of a doctor's time is spent on diagnostics where AI/ML has the ability to increase productivity by a sizable margin if special interests can be overcome. The same holds true of many professions and trades that have no interest in automation and will actually fight it as they did with automation in the past. The US no longer has excess money to stimulate the economy, but it has the ability to make significant, maybe even radical improvements in productivity in some areas. AI/ML has never existed before at the level we have today. The only thing standing in the way now is a leadership that will not come from the current leadership. Hopefully business and tech leaders will step up to fill the void. Productivity is key, especially with labor rates going through the roof as we have seen in recent labor contracts.
I think AI/ML will certainly help in a lot of areas, and greatly boost productivity in others. However, the US is facing a major long-term labor problem in certain areas that will be hard to solve with AI/ML: Carpentry, Electrical, Plumbing. Trades jobs are extremely important, and definitely pay well compared to a lot of jobs out there - but from what I’ve gathered - a lot of trades people are ‘aging out’ without sufficient replacements to come along and take their place.
So while AI may help free up portions of the labor pool to do other things — if we don’t have culture or financial incentives to move some of those between specific skills types — we’re going to have a tough time in certain key industries.
I also think AI/ML is a little overhyped at this point, but I hope to stand corrected in a few years..
I think AI/ML will certainly help in a lot of areas, and greatly boost productivity in others. However, the US is facing a major long-term labor problem in certain areas that will be hard to solve with AI/ML: Carpentry, Electrical, Plumbing. Trades jobs are extremely important, and definitely pay well compared to a lot of jobs out there - but from what I’ve gathered - a lot of trades people are ‘aging out’ without sufficient replacements to come along and take their place.
So while AI may help free up portions of the labor pool to do other things — if we don’t have culture or financial incentives to move some of those between specific skills types — we’re going to have a tough time in certain key industries.
I also think AI/ML is a little overhyped at this point, but I hope to stand corrected in a few years..
Having three California contractor's licenses (general, electrical and communications), massive savings could be made by panelized and prefab construction that is blocked by special interests that keep cost high. We could easily reduce construction time and costs dramatically. The same is true of many fields where special interests keep quality low and costs high, especially medical which in the US has insane pricing and average quality at best(we rank 37th in quality and number one in high costs).
