AI's Impact on Jobs: From Software Engineering to Everyday Tech

AI Is Definitely Coming for Your Job

Member of the board, UCLA Daily Bruin Alumni Network; advisory board, Center for Ethical Leadership in the Media One of the big promises of AI is that it will automate repetitive tasks, freeing up humans to focus on more creative work. But the "freeing up humans" ideal only works if we still have jobs that employers value enough to pay for. I bring this up because when it comes to concerns that gen AI will snatch jobs from people, various kinds of writers land at the top of the list. That's because AI tools can take a whack at composing everything from emails and resumes to novels and wedding vows and deliver text "for you to review in seconds," as Grammarly has noted. I don't buy that AI will lead to the demise of writing jobs, let alone that it will replace writers. Neither do others, with author Ted Chiang questioning whether an AI can produce "art," and novelist Anita Felicelli arguing that "an algorithm trained on well-known books can't find what's both moving and surprising the way" skilled authors can. But tools like ChatGPT "will figure out three-act structure, cliffhanger endings for chapters and what events will titillate readers faster to maintain reader attention." But I do believe -- along with pretty much everyone else who studies the future of jobs -- that gen AI will reduce opportunities for all kinds of workers, writers among them. All kinds of jobs will be outsourced to the robots as companies across industries look to cut costs and get a return from their investments in AI. I mention this because I'm hearing more and more among my circle in Silicon Valley that while we writers should be concerned, a group as likely to be affected by the AI displacement effect will be those who helped create AI in the first place: software engineers. Of course, you'll find plenty of arguments about why AI can't replace engineers. But that doesn't mean software creatives will be any less vulnerable than writers to a rethink of their role, as tech companies turn to AI tools to boost productivity among a group that's typically been their most expensive workers. My musing on this is prompted by recent comments from two high-profile tech executives. First, the chief of Amazon Web Services, Matt Garman, predicted that the company's software engineers "could soon be forced to find responsibilities other than coding due to the rise of AI," the New York Post reported in August, citing leaked audio of his remarks to employees obtained by Business Insider. "It just means that each of us has to get more in tune with what our customers need and what the actual end thing is that we're going to try to go build, because that's going to be more and more of what the work is as opposed to sitting down and actually writing code," Garman said. And last week, the co-founder of Anthropic, Daniela Amodei, told The Information about how the maker of Claude is using the chatbot to help its developers write code. Though Claude "can't fully replace engineers and needs 'some coaching,'" the publication reported, quoting Amodei, Anthropic developers have "dramatically increased their productivity." That's great, the publication continued, as Anthropic attempts to address the "overriding question for artificial intelligence developers [as to whether] they can generate enough revenue to offset the high costs of compute talent." To be sure, neither Garman nor Amodei predicted the demise of software engineers, just that AI will change what they do. When I do a Google search on how artificial intelligence will alter software work, Google's AI Overview feature tells me that AI can "automate repetitive tasks like code reviews, testing, and debugging, allowing developers to focus on more creative work." That's all well and good -- assuming they still have a job that employers value enough to pay for. If you're interested, Bain & Company shared thoughts last month on how software development will change in an AI-powered world. Meanwhile, Fast Company reported that the founding president of Google China, Kai-Fu Lee, "agrees there will be countless new jobs created by the effort to optimize AI, which will require a human touch." What jobs? "Positions like Prompt Manager, AI Trainer, AI Auditor, AI Ethicists, and Machine Managers will be necessary in order to help companies develop and use AI in a safe, responsible, and effective way," the publication said. What he seems to be saying is that if you're concerned about AI coming for your job, you might want to upskill to a job centered on the care and feeding of AI. I don't know about that. But I do know that if software engineers need to start rethinking what they do, then it's probably time we all reflect on how AI will change our jobs in the not-too-distant future. Here are the other doings in AI worth your attention. How big a deal will AI be when it comes to allowing you to create high-definition or photorealistic video from simple text prompts? A pretty big deal, based on the gasps heard from Hollywood when OpenAI demonstrated its photorealistic text-to-video creator Sora back in February (and said the tool will be made available later this year). If you don't remember, or know, anything about Sora, I encourage you to watch this YouTube demo reel and check out Joanna Stern's assessment in The Wall Street Journal. "Welcome to the next 'holy cow' moment in AI, where your words transform into smooth, highly realistic, detailed video," Stern wrote. "So long, reality! Thanks for all the good times." Well, there were some more gasps when Meta announced this month that it was moving into the text-to-video space with a tool called Movie Gen. The tool promises to give everyone from aspiring filmmakers in Hollywood to creators who just like making videos for their audiences a way "to use simple text inputs to produce custom videos and sounds, edit existing videos, and transform your personal image into a unique video." When Movie Gen is released to the public for use on Instagram (Meta didn't say when exactly), you'll be able to create full-motion video up to 16 seconds long from a single prompt, or from an uploaded photo of someone. Or, as Ars Technica described it, Movie Gen is an AI system that can generate "deepfake videos from a single photo." Concerns like that are why Meta said in its blog post that it will "work closely with filmmakers and creators to integrate their feedback." Check out Movie Gen's AI-generated hippo video, and a few other demos, here. Or you can watch a Movie Gen version of Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg leg-pressing chicken nuggets, on his Instagram account, here (at least I think they're chicken nuggets, against a backdrop of fries). Warning: Once you watch it, you can't unsee it. Former Google researcher Geoffrey Hinton, described as one of the godfathers of AI, shared the Nobel Prize in physics for his work in using "tools from physics to develop methods that are the foundation of today's powerful machine learning," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which awarded the prize, wrote in a release. "Geoffrey Hinton invented a method that can autonomously find properties in data, and so perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures." What's notable about the win is that Hinton has become one of the most vocal critics of AI, "warning the machines could take over the world," The Wall Street Journal noted. "Hinton's Nobel win has provided a new platform for his doomsday warnings at the same time it celebrates his critical role in advancing the technologies fueling them. Hinton has argued that advanced AI systems are capable of understanding their outputs, a controversial view in research circles." Hinton told the WSJ that the Nobel Prize win hopefully "will make me more credible when I say these things really do understand what they're saying." Hinton wasn't the only Googler recognized for his contribution to AI. Demis Hassabis, co-founder of Google's DeepMind AI division, and his colleague John Jumper were awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry after developing "an AI model to solve a 50-year-old problem: predicting proteins' complex structures," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. Google Search added new AI features that let you "ask your question in any way you want -- whether you type a query, search with your camera or simply hum a tune," the company said in a blog post. The news comes as the US Department of Justice said it may consider asking that the company be broken up, after a judge ruled it has an illegal monopoly in online search, Reuters reported. (The case is expected to go on for years, so legal experts don't expect Google Search to change anytime soon.) CNET's Katie Collins recounts the challenges Apple is facing as it works to gain ground in the AI market. "The company promised Apple Intelligence would be here 'in the fall' and it looks like it will make good on that promise, but it arguably would've had a bigger impact if it had arrived ready to go on the new iPhone last month," Collins says. Apple researchers released a paper describing an AI research model called Depth Pro that VentureBeat reported is "able to generate detailed 3D depth maps from single 2D images in a fraction of a second -- without relying on the camera data traditionally needed to make such predictions." Why is that worth knowing? Because it could "significantly advance how machines perceive depth, potentially transforming industries ranging from augmented reality to autonomous vehicles."

Do you really want an AI gadget?

An MIT economist warned that the current artificial intelligence boom may only significantly impact 5% of jobs over the next decade. Millions of Americans have unlocked the capabilities of "generative AI" over the past two years - beginning with OpenAI's ChatGPT - and quickly followed by Google Gemini (formerly Bard), Microsoft's CoPilot, Meta AI, and several others. "Gen AI" tools have empowered consumers, students, and employees alike, to create text, photos, and other content -- from building a custom itinerary for a trip to Europe to helping draft business plans for entrepreneurs to creating images that can be freely used on a website or school or work presentation. Much of the content is free, but for highly customized results or more advanced media creation, such as AI-generated videos on demand, many of these services require a paid subscription. Whether it's via a website or app, gen AI to date has been mostly an online "cloud" application, which requires an internet connection. But as you look to buy new gadgets this fall and winter, perhaps as holidays gifts for the family, no doubt you'll notice hardware-based AI as a key selling point for many of the digital devices you may be considering. That is, AI is becoming baked into the tech itself. For example, new laptops are billed as "AI PCs" with "CoPilot+" built into the Windows operating system. Apple is readying its "Apple Intelligence" for iPhone 15 and 16 running iOS 18. Samsung is promoting Galaxy AI across mobile devices - and there's even Samsung's Bespoke AI-powered appliances, like refrigerators and laundry machines. So, why do you need AI built into hardware? "Many people have become fascinated by AI, as they've found ways to make their lives and jobs more efficient," says Dan Ackerman, Editor in Chief of Micro Center News, a recently formed news division of the popular computer and electronics retailer founded in 1979. "And there are several benefits to local AI over cloud AI, beginning with better privacy and security," continues Ackerman. "For example, you may not want everything uploaded to the cloud, like information tied to your taxes or a proprietary company document, which you don't want to share publicly." "Cloud-based gen AI has its place, sure, but the future is looking like a hybrid model," predicts Ackerman. "I think local AI is really where the focus will be for so much of what we're doing - for privacy, speed, cost, and efficiency reasons - and so pretty much any new laptop or desktop going forward will have not just a CPU and GPU [for graphics performance], but an NPU, a neural processing unit, that's capable of handling AI and running these large language models and image creation locally." Not all tech experts are sold on the value proposition of AI on device. "Consumers are really not certain about what AI will bring as far as a return on investment," maintains Carolina Milanesi, President and Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies, a Silicon Valley-based market research firm. To Milanesi's point, a device with AI tends to cost more than one without. For example, a Dell XPS 13 with a new Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processor (256V Series), powered by AI, costs $1,399 to start, compared to $1,099 to start for a Dell XPS 13 laptop with the first-generation Intel Core Ultra Series processor (both with comparable specs). "For certain products like smartphones, anything around camera or as intuitive as 'circle to search' might be the best elevator pitch for AI, but consumers will not be walking into a store to buy AI," believes Milanesi, "though they will appreciate it when all other requirements are met." Google Gemini on Android devices Available on select Android smartphones, like Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices, Google's "Circle to Search" referenced by Milanesi lets users press and hold the Home button, and then draw a finger (or stylus pen) around anything on a phone's screen, such as a cool landmark in a social media post or an actress in a Netflix show, and the phone will instantly do an online image search and tell you relevant information. This works in any app and you don't need to leave the app to perform this task, as the search results are shown on the bottom half of the screen (then you can save, share, and more). You can use Circle to Search in your real surroundings, too, such as if you like the pair of shoes worn by someone in front of you in line at the supermarket, point your camera to the footwear (no need to even snap a pic) and circle the item to see the brand, price, and more. Circle to search also works on text. Similarly, Samsung's Galaxy phones have an integrated Generative Edit feature, which uses AI to analyze any photo and make suggestions on how to enhance it, such as removing a shadow across someone's face, fixing a crooked photo, or deleting Billy giving grandma the "rabbit ears" behind her back. You can have fun, too, like isolating a person, like a skateboarder who may only be half a foot in the air and repositioning him to make it look like he's eight feet above ground - or even upside down. (Anytime gen AI amplifies an image, a watermark will appear in the lower left of the image and in metadata to show it was enhanced.) Drew Blackard, VP of Mobile Product Management for Samsung Electronics America, tells USA TODAY "since the launch of Galaxy S24 earlier this year, 75% of our users have actively engaged with our AI features. Recently, we saw 18 million instances of our Galaxy AI features being used by S24 series users in just one week -- and that's only within the U.S." "That kind of data tells us consumers clearly want this," Blackard adds. In partnership with Google Gemini, Samsung's Galaxy AI also lets you live transcribe a call with someone who speaks another language or summarize a conversation with bulleted highlights. "Chat Assist," on the other hand, includes enhanced messaging features such as suggested replies and proofreading. What do customers say, though? HP is one of the many computer manufacturers embracing AI PCs, bundled with a CPU, GPU and NPU. "Once customers understand what's possible with AI on device, it's a no-brainer," shares Sam Chang, Senior Vice President and Division President of Consumer PC Solutions at HP. "You're getting cost savings since you don't need to pay for a subscription, it's more secure and private [than the cloud], and you get a faster response by running the model locally," Chang said in an interview at HP Imagine, the company's annual event in Palo Alto, in late September. Putting the 'personal' back into personal computers According to semiconductor giant Intel, AI PCs are the fastest growing PC segment, with Intel the leading provider in this segment, having shipped more than 15 million devices since December 2023 -- and on track to ship more than 40 million before the end of the year, says the company. "Customers are very excited by AI PCs powered by Intel Core Ultra CPUs," says Chris Tobias, General Manager, Americas Technology and Global Platform ISV Team Lead at Intel Corporation, "but perhaps it's true the benefits of AI on a PC are not fully comprehended by consumers." "This confusion can result in hesitancy to adopt a new PC," Tobias adds. "The perception that AI is 'scary' or 'unnecessary' stems from a lack of awareness about its potential benefits." Tobias points out people already use AI daily through voice assistants, photo enhancements and grammar checkers, without even realizing it. "Once consumers see how AI on a PC can personalize their experience, streamline workflows, and boost performance -- particularly in a seamless, secure environment -- they tend to be more open to adopting it." "Unlike free, web-based AI tools, AI on a PC allows for local processing, which keeps data more secure, reduces latency, and improves performance," Tobias adds. AI PCs aren't just about language models or image creation, but can also aid in extending battery life, smarter and faster video editing for content creators, and can analyze your own content for a more tailored experience. AI PCs are forecast by Gartner to grow 165% year over year into 2025 and account for 43% of PCs, cites Tobias, which includes products from Intel competitors like AMD and Qualcomm. Apple health updates: Recent changes by Apple focus on health tech. Experts think that's a big deal. On October 1, Windows announced new Copilot+ PC features coming soon, including "Click to Do" (simplify your workflow by placing an interactive overlay on top of your screen, enabling suggested quick actions to appear over images or text); improved Windows Search (find files by describing them in your own words); and "Super Resolution in Photos" (enhance your lower-resolution photos into high-quality images without worrying they'll look blurry or pixelated). Apple all-in on AI, too While not quite ready for last month's much-hyped iPhone 16 launch, AI - what Apple is stylizing as "Apple Intelligence" - will be available some time in October. It's a suite of tools and technologies to empower users to perform several tasks on an iPhone not previously available - while protecting your privacy at the same time, the company says. You'll be able to ask the AI to help draft emails and iMessages and other text for you; to create images based on what you ask for as a "prompt" (request); to record, transcribe, and summarize audio; and a smarter Siri that's more conversational and contextual along with many other AI features. Similar to Google Pixel and Samsung Galaxy devices, iPhone users will soon be able to remove unwanted subjects in photos, too, along with other handy AI tools. Speaking of photography, by year end Apple Intelligence will let iPhone users leverage the new touch- and pressure-sensitive Camera Control button along the right-hand side of iPhone to analyze objects you point the camera lens at, such as identifying a dog breed. But again, Apple Intelligence is more MIA than AI at this point - but it's around the corner. If consumers want it.

AI Products Integrations Are Stepping Up These Are the Ones I'm Hyped For

Quick LinksAR Headsets and Smart Glasses AI Smartphones Home Robots AI Laptops AI Cameras Self-Driving Cars In recent years, neural processing units (NPUs) have become more and more capable. With these new AI edge processors becoming more accessible to manufacturers, we are now experiencing a surge of new innovative AI products that can revolutionize how we use and interact with technology. Here are the ones I'm really excited about: 1 AR Headsets and Smart Glasses AI is bringing wearables into the future, and AR glasses and headsets are leading the way. Meta's Quest 3, for example, combines its own Meta AI assistant with miniaturized hardware, including advanced sensors, NPUs, and AI-enhanced pass-through cameras. This allows users to use the Meta Quest 3 to enjoy mixed-reality gaming and virtual workout sessions, watch virtual content online, and do daily productivity tasks while being aware of their physical surroundings. Apple users may also opt for Apple's Vision Pro AR headset, which supports and maximizes the use of other Apple devices. The Vision Pro integrates AI with highly sophisticated sensors and LiDAR technology that map your surroundings to merge the physical and digital worlds into one seamless environment. This allows users to enjoy an immersive VR experience similar to that of the Meta Quest 3 with the addition of the Apple ecosystem. Looking for smart glasses to take on your travels? Ray-Ban smart glasses now integrate Meta's AI-powered assistant. Pair that with a 12MP camera, auto-transition lenses, earphones, and an AI edge processor, and you get a cool AI-augmented device you can bring anywhere for hand-free photo and video recording, auto-language translations, voice commands, and live notifications. 2 AI Smartphones Thanks to chips like Google's Tensor and Apple's Bionic series, smartphones have evolved into AI powerhouses. These System on a Chip (SoC) processors house neural processing units such as Google's Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) and Apple's Neural Engine (ANE). These chips handle everything from FaceID and augmented reality apps to computational photography by distributing AI workloads efficiently across the CPU, GPU, and dedicated neural processors. Google's Tensor chip excels in computational photography and natural language processing. It provides the newest Pixel phones with some of the most useful features, such as AI-assisted night mode, local AI image editing, real-time transcription and translation, song detection, and adaptive user experience. On the other hand, Apple's latest Bionic chips provide on-chip AI capabilities in every iPhone, such as enhanced augmented reality experiences, hands-free voice commands with Siri, quick and secure facial recognition, smooth gaming with AR apps, and voice recognition features. 3 Home Robots AI-powered home robotics is an area where advancements in sensors, machine learning, and autonomous navigation come together. New AI-driven home robots such as Amazon's Astro utilize advanced AI for facial recognition and machine learning to navigate your home autonomously. What makes Astro stand out is its fusion of AI and sensor technologies like LIDAR and SLAM (Simultaneous Localization and Mapping), which allow it to create a map of your home and detect obstacles. Its AI enables it to move smoothly and understand contextual cues, such as recognizing faces, interpreting voice commands, and learning your household preferences over time. With home robots becoming increasingly popular, we could potentially use them for home security (monitoring), moving smart assistants, a control hub for smart home devices, and robot pets offering companionship for children, the elderly, or the disabled. 4 AI Laptops With AI becoming an integral part of work, entertainment, and regular day-to-day tasks, AI-powered laptops are now being released to the public. Similar to AI smartphones, these laptops feature NPUs as part of their SoCs. Some of the more notable AI processors include Intel's Lunar Lake, AMD's Strix Point, Qualcomm's X Elite, and Apple's M series of processors, each designed to harness AI's power in different ways. Intel's Lunar Lake processors promise to leverage AI to optimize energy efficiency, predict user behavior, and intelligently manage system resources. With AI-reliant software such as the upcoming Microsoft Copilot expected to become a standard for Windows systems, a Lunar Lake AI processor should help further decrease battery usage, with its integrated NPU efficiently handling most of the tasks. While Intel focuses on power efficiency, AMD's Strix Point processors push AI workloads to the forefront of everyday computing tasks, such as enhancing gaming, video conferencing, and multimedia content creation. Its use of AI accelerators allows for effective real-time noise reduction, gesture recognition, and video editing optimizations, making Strix Point the go-to processor for high-performance laptops suitable for gaming and content creation. A rather unexpected but welcome addition to the latest AI processors is Qualcomm's Snapdragon X-Elite processors. Its ARM architecture makes the X-Elite inherently power efficient but at the cost of limited software support. However, as Windows in ARM becomes more popular, ARM laptops seem to have a bright future. Not only are they power efficient, running ARM native apps should also make them capable devices for gaming and other resource-intensive tasks. Another ARM-based AI processor is Apple's M-series of chips. They include AI Neural Engines that dramatically increase the speed and efficiency of image and video processing tasks. The unified memory architecture in these chips also ensures that machine learning models have direct access to high-speed memory, enabling faster AI-driven applications like voice dictation and augmented reality. 5 AI Cameras AI-powered cameras are transforming how we capture moments and produce content. This new breed of camera makes it easier to capture smooth, professional-level footage without complicated manual settings and setups. For instance, the Hover Air X1 drone is equipped with AI that can autonomously follow subjects, avoid obstacles, and optimize framing for the perfect shot. Another newly released AI drone is DJI's Neo, which takes framing a step further by employing reinforcement learning, allowing the drone to predict movement patterns and adjust its flight paths dynamically. Both drones' high levels of autonomy are only made possible by deep learning algorithms and real-time recognition software. AI cameras can also be found in actions in handheld cameras like Insta360's X4 action camera. Its AI-enhanced stabilization, subject tracking capabilities, and voice commands use the 360 platform efficiently to capture the surroundings while keeping you in focus the entire time. Stationary cameras such as the Insta360 Link webcam also use AI to conveniently track and follow a subject with its AI camera and motorized tilt and pan functions. Its whiteboard mode uses AI to focus on a whiteboard and frame it to look perfectly cropped and leveled for the audience to see. Other advanced features, such as intelligent noise cancelation, gesture control, and overhead mode, make the Inta360 Link the perfect companion for online classes and presentations. All of this is made possible by onboard AI accelerators, which allow these devices to perform complex computations without relying on cloud-based processing, ensuring quick response times and real-time decision-making. 6 Self-Driving Cars Lastly, we have self-driving cars. Self-driving technology has been around for quite some time now, but it's only been in recent years that AI has helped self-driving vehicles to get past conditional automation (level 3) to high automation (level 4) based on the 5 levels of driving automation. Waymo's fully autonomous technology takes the lead in self-driving cars. They use AI for tasks like obstacle detection, route optimization, and complex urban navigation. Waymo's cars rely on deep learning and powerful processors to achieve full autonomy. Crucially, the AI is trained on millions of miles of real-world driving data, making it safer and smarter over time. Tesla's Autopilot takes AI deep learning even further by only using machine vision to enable highly autonomous driving on its latest Cybertruck. What powers Tesla's self-driving capabilities is the in-house developed Full Self-Driving (FSD) chips, which contain a dedicated AI neural net to process sensor data in real-time without a cloud connection. The integration of AI into everyday products is transforming how we interact with technology. From wearables like AR glasses to smartphones, laptops, and even home robots, AI enhances functionality and user experience in ways we could only dream of a few years ago. As these technologies continue to improve, we can expect an even brighter future for AI-enhanced technology.