0.000000	2.720000	 "Tech It From Me is an independent and solo-produced podcast."
2.720000	4.620000	 Welcome to the "Tech It From Me" podcast.
4.620000	5.720000	 I'm Mike Madole.
5.720000	8.800000	 This week I came across a headline that caught my attention.
8.800000	12.160000	 Jeffrey Hinton, the self-proclaimed Godfather of AI,
12.160000	16.880000	 says, "AI will take over all intellectually mundane jobs."
16.880000	20.520000	 In his words, and I quote, "AI will replace everyone
20.520000	23.400000	 doing mundane intellectual labor."
23.400000	24.520000	 End quote.
24.520000	26.080000	 That's a bold claim.
26.080000	27.200000	 But is it true?
27.200000	29.080000	 Or is there more to this story?
29.080000	30.960000	 Today I want to unpack his comments,
30.960000	33.920000	 share why I don't fully agree, and talk
33.920000	38.840000	 about what this really means for you, your job, and your future.
38.840000	41.120000	 This is "Tech It From Me."
41.120000	42.320000	 Let's go.
42.320000	44.480000	 This is the "Tech It From Me" podcast.
44.480000	46.200000	 So here's what's happened.
46.200000	49.280000	 Jeffrey Hinton, Professor Emeritus at the University of Toronto
49.280000	53.800000	 recently appeared on the Diary of a CEO podcast.
53.800000	55.880000	 If you don't know him, he's widely credited
55.880000	58.400000	 as a pioneer of the deep learning techniques
58.400000	61.400000	 that power modern AI today.
61.400000	65.960000	 He said, and I quote, "I think for mundane intellectual labor,
65.960000	68.720000	 AI will replace everyone."
68.720000	70.600000	 End quote.
70.600000	73.720000	 He pointed specifically at jobs like call center workers
73.720000	76.240000	 and paralegals as being at risk.
76.240000	77.880000	 And honestly, that makes sense.
77.880000	81.640000	 These are roles with high volumes of repetitive tasks
81.640000	84.680000	 that AI excels at automating.
84.680000	87.880000	 He also warned about the broader impact on society.
87.880000	92.040000	 He said, "I think joblessness is a fairly urgent short-term threat
92.040000	94.040000	 to human happiness.
94.040000	97.040000	 If you make lots and lots of people unemployed,
97.040000	100.080000	 even if they get universal basic income,
100.080000	102.280000	 they are not going to be happy."
102.280000	104.200000	 And this isn't just theory anymore.
104.200000	107.880000	 There was an example recently where an NBA finals commercial
107.880000	111.040000	 aired in the US that was produced entirely
111.040000	113.760000	 by artificial intelligence.
113.760000	117.360000	 The total cost for the production, $2,000,
117.360000	120.000000	 and it took only two days to make.
120.000000	123.880000	 No human production crew and no actors.
123.880000	126.840000	 So major corporations are starting to prepare.
126.840000	130.920000	 Amazon CEO Andy Jassy recently told employees,
130.920000	133.600000	 they expect to reduce their corporate head count
133.600000	136.960000	 as AI takes over certain tasks.
136.960000	140.240000	 His words, quote, "We will need fewer people
140.240000	143.120000	 doing some of the jobs that are being done today
143.120000	147.200000	 and more people doing other types of jobs," end quote.
147.200000	152.160000	 And Dario Amodei, apologies if I've butchered your last name there,
152.160000	155.960000	 CEO of Anthropic, one of the major AI labs,
155.960000	161.960000	 said AI could eliminate half of entry-level white-collar jobs
161.960000	164.400000	 within five years.
164.400000	167.760000	 He predicts unemployment could rise to 20%
167.760000	171.400000	 if governments and workers don't adapt quickly.
171.400000	174.640000	 Thankfully, not everyone agrees on the doom and gloom.
174.640000	177.760000	 Mark Daley, Western University's chief AI officer,
177.760000	182.880000	 said that all white-collar jobs do have elements at risk,
182.880000	184.800000	 but that doesn't mean extinction.
184.800000	189.360000	 The roles will change dramatically, but not disappear entirely.
189.360000	192.600000	 He said something that I thought was quite interesting.
192.600000	195.440000	 We've never had a technology transition
195.440000	198.680000	 where we've got machines that think.
198.680000	200.920000	 That's a heavy thought.
200.920000	204.960000	 So now here's where I come in, with almost 30 years of IT
204.960000	210.800000	 experience in publicly traded organizations, in startups,
210.800000	213.720000	 in the .com era, and so forth.
213.720000	216.240000	 I don't fully agree with Hinton's blanket statement
216.240000	221.520000	 that AI will replace everyone doing intellectually mundane jobs.
221.520000	223.200000	 And here's why.
223.200000	226.560000	 AI is amazing at performing tasks,
226.560000	229.160000	 but it's truly terrible at caring.
229.160000	231.640000	 So let me give you an analogy.
231.640000	234.000000	 Anyone can technically sing a song.
234.000000	237.000000	 You or I could stand in front of a microphone,
237.000000	239.400000	 read lyrics, hit the notes.
239.400000	242.840000	 But why do A-list singers rise to the top?
242.840000	243.880000	 It's simple.
243.880000	246.360000	 They sing with emotion.
246.360000	250.400000	 They make us feel something real in their songs.
250.400000	252.480000	 They've lived heartbreak just like we have.
252.480000	256.440000	 They've felt hope, but AI just doesn't feel.
256.440000	259.040000	 It can hit every note perfectly,
259.040000	263.000000	 but it can't make you cry or smile with nostalgia
263.000000	265.480000	 or inspire you to change your life.
265.480000	268.400000	 It can only predict what that next word or note
268.400000	272.000000	 that statistically makes sense might be.
272.000000	276.040000	 The same could be said for so-called mundane jobs.
276.040000	277.640000	 Think about a customer service rep
277.640000	280.000000	 calming down an angry customer.
280.000000	285.520000	 Sure, AI can read a script, match tone, apologize.
285.520000	288.920000	 But humans tend to pick up on nuances,
288.920000	291.440000	 that slight crack in someone's voice,
291.440000	295.720000	 the silence, that signals tears or the impatience
295.720000	299.600000	 that hides fear of losing something important.
299.600000	301.880000	 Or think about a legal assistant.
301.880000	305.440000	 Reviewing a mountain of documents might seem mundane,
305.440000	309.240000	 but a good assistant remembers small nuances
309.240000	313.200000	 that save clients from embarrassment or legal trouble.
313.200000	314.840000	 Not because it's on their checklist,
314.840000	318.960000	 but because they care, these are human traits
318.960000	321.200000	 that AI does not have.
321.200000	324.680000	 Well, truthfully, at least not yet.
324.680000	326.720000	 Now, let's be realistic.
326.720000	330.040000	 AI will take over pure data tasks.
330.040000	332.520000	 It's already doing it today.
332.520000	336.120000	 Data entry, summarizing meeting transcripts,
336.120000	339.680000	 processing invoices, writing first drafts
339.680000	342.000000	 of a marketing copy.
342.000000	345.000000	 These are repetitive prone to human error,
345.000000	348.040000	 and frankly, humans shouldn't spend their lives
348.040000	350.960000	 copy-pasting data between systems.
350.960000	354.120000	 If AI can handle these, that's good for us.
354.120000	358.280000	 It frees up time for tasks that matter more.
358.280000	361.800000	 Some argue AI will eventually simulate empathy,
361.800000	365.320000	 so perfectly that we won't know the difference.
365.320000	368.240000	 Maybe, but here's my question.
368.240000	373.040000	 Is simulated empathy the same as real empathy?
373.040000	377.800000	 A script can say, I'm so sorry you're experiencing this today,
377.800000	381.520000	 but if you know the person actually cares, it's different.
381.520000	386.360000	 You can feel it in their tone, their size, their pauses.
386.360000	388.240000	 That's the difference, in my opinion,
388.240000	392.480000	 between performing empathy and truly feeling it.
392.480000	396.680000	 So, as a listener, what does all this mean for you?
396.680000	400.000000	 If you're sitting there worried, AI's going to take your job,
400.000000	401.800000	 here's my challenge to you.
401.800000	404.800000	 Ask yourself, what do I bring that an algorithm
404.800000	406.560000	 simply can't do?
406.560000	409.600000	 Is it your empathy, your intuition,
409.600000	413.120000	 your ability to see connections, no one else sees,
413.120000	416.720000	 your creativity, your leadership?
416.720000	419.880000	 These are the things AI struggles with.
419.880000	422.320000	 These might just become your greatest assets
422.320000	424.720000	 in an AI-driven world.
424.720000	426.840000	 Let me leave you with this story.
426.840000	430.920000	 A number of years ago, I worked for a Fortune 100 company.
430.920000	433.040000	 We had a data analyst whose job was
433.040000	436.240000	 to validate sales reports every month.
436.240000	439.280000	 Sounds like a pretty mundane task, right?
439.280000	443.200000	 But one month, he flagged a massive reporting error.
443.200000	446.560000	 Our business intelligence software didn't catch it.
446.560000	449.280000	 Neither did the AI plug-in we were using.
449.280000	450.160000	 Why?
450.160000	454.880000	 Because technically, the data matched all of the validation rules
454.880000	457.120000	 that we had set up in the system.
457.120000	460.600000	 He just knew the context of our business so well
460.600000	464.320000	 he realized something wasn't adding up.
464.320000	468.000000	 So, on his insistence, we dug in.
468.000000	471.160000	 And as it turned out, he was right.
471.160000	473.600000	 The cost percentages had been shaved off
473.600000	475.960000	 in the monthly inventory counts.
475.960000	479.680000	 And the end result was increased inventory purchases
479.680000	481.760000	 for a few of our branches.
481.760000	483.880000	 Truthfully, they were buying more inventory
483.880000	486.040000	 than they actually needed.
486.040000	488.760000	 So, had he not caught this nuance,
488.760000	492.320000	 we would have continued to purchase more supplies,
492.320000	496.080000	 more food inventory than we needed every month.
496.080000	498.640000	 With food inventory, there's spoilage.
498.640000	503.280000	 That's lost revenue, that's lost dollars.
503.280000	505.840000	 His insistence saved the company millions
505.840000	510.000000	 of potential billing disputes and potential inventory
510.000000	511.840000	 variances.
511.840000	513.840000	 So, this wasn't a mundane task.
513.840000	518.400000	 This was truly judgment.
518.400000	520.560000	 So, what are your thoughts?
520.560000	523.400000	 Do you think AI will replace your job?
523.400000	526.120000	 Where do you see human emotion and intuition
526.120000	528.520000	 still mattering in your work?
528.520000	532.160000	 I'd love to feature your thoughts in a future episode.
532.160000	534.960000	 Feel free to send me an email at Inspire,
534.960000	538.000000	 at techitfromme.com.
538.000000	540.160000	 Thanks for listening, and until next time,
540.160000	544.360000	 this is Mike Madole with Tech It From Me.
544.360000	546.934750	 Tech it For Me is an independent and solo-produced podcast.