Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

Let’s curb our enthusiasm about these chatbots and large language models multiplying productivity and costing jobs.

I just saw another article about how ChatGPT and the like are being used in yet another field of endeavor with giant gains in productivity. We won’t need half the people we have in the office now. Just cut their jobs and use technology to get ‘er done.

Let’s take a deep breath—something we should do much more often, even in “normal times.”

Yes, these new chattering things are fun. I type a simple question and “poof,” there are five paragraphs I can copy and paste. Viola’. Time for a nap. I’m exhausted.

This is new and exciting—NOT. Well, yes, the user experience of type, read, copy, paste, done is new, but the Internet is not new. Wikipedia is not new. The Chicago Manual of Style online edition is not new. The dictionary and thesaurus online is not new. The online Scrabble allowed words thing (I have no idea what you call that) is not new.

For 20 years I have been able to search, read, copy, paste, done. Hey wait, that’s just like… Instead of search I type. You mean I could have been doing this for the past… Wait, no one told me…

Sorry, yes, some folks have been doing this for 20 years. We have an expression where I work, “Let me Google that for you” or LMGTFY.

Chattering (my shorthand for using these new and fabulous tools) is new and exciting. Everybody has discovered the value of all previous human knowledge. Well, some of us discovered that a while back and have been using it for quite a while now.

The current exuberance will fade a bit. My grandchildren (now teenagers) will consider chattering to be normal and most of today’s teens will forget how to do it by the next school year. Teachers will still be debating how to use things (yes, those in bureaucracies are that far behind) and students will stare at the ceiling and yawn while the “adults” are preoccupied with yesterday’s news.

What’s the point? Chattering will multiply productivity for some. We have folks who want to be more productive and get ahead. Most, however, will settle back into their long-formed habits. Their bosses will also settle back as well. No reason to do too much during the work day. That is the way things have been in this world ruled by the 80/20 rule or whatever we call it.

The exceptional folks are exceptions. Nothing to see here. Move on.