The Fruits of Our Labor

By Sean McVeigh

Change is scary. I don’t think I’m setting off any alarms with that statement. We’re at our most comfortable with the status quo, and when things begin to veer into unfamiliar territory, it triggers that Spidey sense we’re all born with: “Something isn’t right here.”

Throughout history, advances in technology have likely scared the bejeezus out of people. Sure, there’s usually an initial sense of awe that dulls the fear. The new thing is often awe-some, after all. When cars started whipping around every which way, I’m sure plenty of people thought, “Man, I want to get behind the wheel of that thing.” But others likely wondered, “How is this going to change our way of life—for better or worse?” Or, more colloquially, “Damn, I just bought that fancy new horse.”

We live in an age where technological breakthroughs are a dime a dozen. It feels like every day there’s a new discovery or invention poised to change society once it gets off the ground. That’s why, when something truly stands out above the rest, it’s worth paying attention.

Artificial Intelligence has come bursting onto the scene in the past few years. It started off slowly — with Siri and Alexa, which felt more like cheap gimmicks than scientific breakthroughs. But recently, tools like ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs) have really started to turn heads.

People aren’t exactly worried about a Terminator-style global takeover — AI hasn’t been that impressive — but it has proven capable of doing certain tasks faster, better, and most importantly, cheaper than humans. The most common concern I hear? AI replacing entry-level jobs. Just this past Tuesday, the Washington Post Editorial Board ran a piece titled: “AI is coming for your entry-level jobs. Everybody needs to get ready.”

I worked an entry-level job when I first entered the workforce. I learned a lot by being around people with more important jobs, but let’s be honest — the tasks I was assigned weren’t groundbreaking. I’m almost positive that today’s AI could have created a better spreadsheet or marketing deck than I could’ve dreamt of in my philosophy. And honestly? That’s probably a good thing. I don’t think AI would have replaced my job — I think it would’ve freed me up to do more important work. Let the mindless do the mindless work.

I’m now in the newspaper business. While we’re a smaller, scrappier team, large newspapers used to employ hordes of copy boys and entire divisions of layout staff among countless other jobs that have fallen to the wayside. What happened to those jobs? Well, technology came for them like the Grim Reaper. But I don’t think many people are sending emails today and thinking, “It’s such a shame what this technology did to the copy boy industry.”

Beyond entry-level roles, people are also fascinated by how AI is impacting college. Everyone loves a story about a professor catching their entire class using ChatGPT to write term papers. And let me tell you, if I were in college today, I probably would’ve done the same. Like I said, mindless doing the mindless stuff.

Here’s a thought: Let’s get technology out of the classroom. By the time I was in college, nearly everything was done on a computer. But in high school, we still wrote by hand very often. It was standard to sit in a classroom, writing an essay in a blue book right in front of the teacher. The task was simple: What do you know, and how well can you explain it?

The fear is that if students rely on AI in college, they’ll never learn to write for themselves. But let’s be honest — college isn’t where I learned to write. That happened back at St. Francis de Sales under the strict but effective tutelage of Miss Farragher: an introduction, a few body paragraphs, and a conclusion. College just taught me how to BS using that structure.

Things are changing. But things always change. Some jobs we know today may disappear, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be new ones. Would past generations ever have imagined that most jobs today involve sitting behind a computer and sending emails? Who knows what jobs AI will create that we just cannot yet imagine?

And there will always be entry-level jobs. AI might take your order at McDonald’s — and maybe even flip the burger — but someone will still have to show up in the morning and turn the machines on. Around here, lifeguarding has been a common first job for the last 50 years. I’m not ruling anything out, but I don’t see robots sitting under orange umbrellas anytime soon.

AI hasn’t come for all the jobs yet. But I don’t think it’s far off. When it does, let’s embrace handing over the mindless work to the mindless. I think it’ll give us more time — and energy — to enjoy the good stuff. The fruits of our labor will be all the sweeter.