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SILICON SILIC CHIP www.siliconchip.com.au Publisher/Editor Nicholas Vinen Technical Editor John Clarke – B.E.(Elec.) Technical Staff Jim Rowe – B.A., B.Sc. Bao Smith – B.Sc. Tim Blythman – B.E., B.Sc. Advertising Enquiries (02) 9939 3295 adverts<at>siliconchip.com.au Regular Contributors Allan Linton-Smith Dave Thompson David Maddison – B.App.Sc. (Hons 1), PhD, Grad.Dip.Entr.Innov. Geoff Graham Associate Professor Graham Parslow Dr Hugo Holden – B.H.B, MB.ChB., FRANZCO Ian Batty – M.Ed. Phil Prosser – B.Sc., B.E.(Elec.) Cartoonist Louis Decrevel loueee.com Founding Editor (retired) Leo Simpson – B.Bus., FAICD Silicon Chip is published 12 times a year by Silicon Chip Publications Pty Ltd. ACN 626 922 870. ABN 20 880 526 923. All material is copyright ©. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written consent of the publisher. Subscription rates (Australia only) 6 issues (6 months): $65 12 issues (1 year): $120 24 issues (2 years): $230 Online subscription (Worldwide) 6 issues (6 months): $50 12 issues (1 year): $95 24 issues (2 years): $185 For overseas rates, see our website or email silicon<at>siliconchip.com.au Recommended & maximum price only. Editorial office: Unit 1 (up ramp), 234 Harbord Rd, Brookvale, NSW 2100. Postal address: PO Box 194, Matraville, NSW 2036. Phone: (02) 9939 3295. ISSN: 1030-2662 Printing and Distribution: Editorial Viewpoint The coming AI revolution will soon bring many changes I wrote about Artificial Intelligence recently, in my March editorial (actually, the AI did most of the writing then). I am bringing up the topic again because progress in the field is extremely rapid and it’s becoming more clear over time that it is going to bring massive changes quite soon. Way back then, I wrote “… I don’t think my job is in danger just yet.” but, with the latest developments, I am starting to reconsider! While the development of transistors, ICs, computers and smart devices has had a significant impact on society, I think that AI is going to have an even more significant impact. The AI revolution will probably bring the biggest change since the Industrial Revolution and it will happen fast. Like with the Industrial Revolution, new jobs are going to appear but many existing jobs are going to disappear or shrink drastically. Things like clerical jobs are going to be handled largely by AIs overseen by a handful of people, replacing large teams of people. AIs are already smart enough to do many of those jobs. The AI I evaluated just a couple of months ago was ChatGPT-3. They recently released its successor, ChatGPT-4, which can pass the American bar exam (to become a lawyer) in the top 10%! It also gets very high marks in the SAT exams like English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics, with a passing score in Calculus. Fields that I expect will see large job losses once AI takes over include data and financial analysis, customer service, banking, some aspects of healthcare, management and administration. I don’t think those jobs will go away completely, but they will probably transform from a large team of people to smaller teams overseeing AIs that perform most of the repetitive tasks. Based on the way ChatGPT-4 is performing, some are saying that it won’t be long before we have Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) – essentially, a computer that is as intelligent as many humans and can perform many of the same tasks as we can. It seems that AI will be able to offload a lot of repetitive and time-consuming tasks that we would otherwise have to do, which is great news for us in terms of raising our productivity. It will probably ultimately raise the standard of living for all of us, but not without a lot of disruptions in the short and medium term. Over time, I think we will see an expansion of the things that an AI can do and as that happens, it will snowball and more and more complex tasks will be able to be completed without human intervention. Imagine what will happen when AIs can do things like browse the internet, access online shopping, interact with third-party software and so on. You would be able to ask it to design a circuit for a particular application, design the PCB, order it, get it assembled and delivered to you, then hook it up to a computer and get it to test it for you. It could do most of that in just a few minutes or perhaps hours. Apply that to many different fields and you’ll start to get an idea of how disruptive the AI revolution might be. I should mention that there are valid concerns about what AIs could do once unleashed in this manner; apparently, OpenAI is putting a lot of effort into figuring out how to prevent AIs from going rogue and limit the damage if they do (as well as addressing bias and privacy concerns). Regardless, that will become a significant issue over the coming years. See this video for more: https://youtu.be/DIU48QL5Cyk by Nicholas Vinen 24-26 Lilian Fowler Pl, Marrickville 2204 2 Silicon Chip Australia's electronics magazine siliconchip.com.au