Over the past few years, the increasing adoption of artificial intelligence by corporations has led to a growing discomfort in the workforce. Many (most?) white-collar workers are anxious, carrying a dull, constant and ever-heavy fear that their job might be the one automated next. Meanwhile, new workers worry they may never find a role in a quickly evolving economy. This is somewhat ironic: both office workers and students are themselves steady, even avid, users of AI tools. They see first-hand how few irreplaceable skills they have, thus feeding their anxiety in a self-actualising technology-enabled doom loop. might be the one automated next might be the one automated next new workers worry they may never find a role in a quickly evolving economy new workers worry they may never find a role in a quickly evolving economy And yet…, OpenAI and its peers continue to expend their daily active user base. OpenAI and its peers continue to expend their daily active user base OpenAI and its peers continue to expend their daily active user base I’ve spent the past 5 years helping Fortune 500 / FTSE 100 / CAC 40 companies “implement AI”. This takes many shapes, across functions (HR, Supply Chain, Marketing, Sales…) and methodologies (Chatbots, custom algorithms, OpenAI wrappers…). Through it all, I’ve learnt that there is only one thing that algorithms will not replace : friction. implement AI friction NB: The above statement is aimed at the professional sphere. Algorithms will of course not replace real creativity, human connection, small acts of kindness, etc. But you catch my meaning. NB: NB: The above statement is aimed at the professional sphere. Algorithms will of course not replace real creativity, human connection, small acts of kindness, etc. But you catch my meaning. Friction is conflict, in thousands of shapes and forms. And conflict cannot be automated. It is too human. It can take many forms. Physical friction is the easiest example, and the one often wielded in high-brow conversations about the “future of work”. “I have a friend who’s an electrician and they’re making a killing”, “we’ll always need plumbers”, “robotics is a lot harder to master”. And that is true. But those conversations often use friction and manual labour in the physical world interchangeably, and that is incorrect. And we do so because in the mind of the white collar worker, manual labour is hard. And we are lazy. So we cannot think of something that is hard, yet not manual. I have a friend who’s an electrician and they’re making a killing we’ll always need plumbers robotics is a lot harder to master lazy A few examples of non-manual friction, which AI can do, but not as well as you, as long as you put your back into it : can Choose for yourself
Write good science-fiction (yes, even at work)
Be a friend at work
Tell hard truths
Read a book from cover to cover
Write something just for yourself
Be mean when needed
Make typos
Listen without speaking Choose for yourself Write good science-fiction (yes, even at work) Be a friend at work Tell hard truths Read a book from cover to cover Write something just for yourself Be mean when needed Make typos Listen without speaking But also (less proffessionaly important, and yet) : Go to a parent-teacher conference
Ask your local government to fill a pothole
Do something (anything) that won’t reward you
Make a sign, then hold that sign in a crowd
Do some civil disobediance
Participate in a mild rioting (my bio does say I’m french)
Kick a robot dog
Make really ugly art
Write jokes
Go to a different country
Make imperfect lists
Create a scrap book
Pretend to be someone else Go to a parent-teacher conference Ask your local government to fill a pothole Do something (anything) that won’t reward you Make a sign, then hold that sign in a crowd Do some civil disobediance Participate in a mild rioting (my bio does say I’m french) Kick a robot dog Make really ugly art Write jokes Go to a different country Make imperfect lists Create a scrap book Pretend to be someone else In the “age” (lol) of AI, doing the legwork is where the value is. Sure an AI could likely do the above in 6 months, or 2 years… but by consistently doing it you are practicing muscles that are atrophying. This has value in the world, and this alone will have value in the work sphere. We can see that we’re getting lazier and lazier with time; we may have illiterate college graduates. So knowing how to pay attention for long periods of time (e.g the ability to read a book), will put you in a good spot when the job hachet comes down. we may have illiterate college graduates we may have illiterate college graduates Hell, we’ve become so disensitised to laziness (ours and others’) that we’ve stopped expecting the real world to work. We assume it will be slow, broken, or possibly on fire. That’s just the baseline. But friction isn’t the enemy! It’s information. It tells us where things are straining and where care is needed and where attention should go. I’m reminded of the Wall-e (the Pixar movie) — AI has made humans so lazy and squishy that they find it impossible to stand up to press a button. A button-presser has a lot of value in that society, should machines break down… be that button presser. It will be difficult. That’s the point. You can’t beat an AI for most tasks. But whatever an AI can’t do, which is difficult to do is, gold. If AI could do it, it would already have (different beliefs on that!). different beliefs on that! So create friction where you can. Seek it. What is hard is worth it. What is hard is worth it. Good luck out there.

The is an opinion piece based on the author’s POV and does not necessarily reflect the views of HackerNoon.

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