There's so much that feels unsettled. The generative A.I. evolution is pushing everything else off to the side when it comes to content for business publications and technical websites. A financial analyst even went so far to suggest that Apple is lagging behind in A.I. and its stock price will get nicked as a result. (I would never count Apple out. They can buy their way to the top of the A.I. mountain). Most people who are writing on the subject are pretty glum, bordering on paranoid. I'm not sure where I land on the whole wide spectrum of angst about our computer overlords but I'm not as optimistic as Chase Jarvis who wrote recently about this just being another step, like the move to digital and the popularity of smart phones. A step that savvy creatives might use to their advantage (hmmmm.). Capitalism has a way of weaponizing new technology directly against its own participants. And many big companies love racing to the bottom when it comes to cost cutting; human capital be damned.
I hate to use the phrase: "It's different this time." But since A.I. covers so much of the work landscape already, from call center prompting and automated phone response systems, to online service chats, to writing everything from marketing copy to technical briefs and certainly, soon, also novels, screenplays and so much more, I can only imagine that anything that's not subjective but is fact based, like accounting and radiology, even law is going to get slammed as far as human pay scale value goes. And in the realm of continuing careers and job tenure.. .. .. . (my ellipse fascination is just a ploy to trick the A.I. learning algorithms into screwing up... . .. ) I think we're about to see a very different kind of disruption than we have in the past mostly because this one will affect white collar workers to a tremendous degree. Another metric to be factored into the decline of the value of a university degree. The working press is seeing evidence of this across industries already.
This doesn't begin to cover the destruction of democracy that deep fakes and endless but highly believable visual and aural misinformation destined to come blasting out of the fire hoses of the internet in order to push bad agendas. And both sides of the political system should be equally worried, including the bad guys who already have a history of endless lying in the service of greed and power...
How it affects photography and how that affect affects you personally will depend on whether you do work for money or you do photography for the fun of the process and the joy of sometimes getting great results. I'll wager that with working photographers if you don't hit two or three must have skill sets in the next year (tops) your days of making $$$ from owning and knowing how to operate a camera and work in PhotoShop are quickly coming to an end. I'll bet that the demand for video of all kinds will continue to explode and, for a few years at least, the ability and patience to navigate creating in collaboration with A.I. will be sellable. Once processor power makes A.I. video creation widely available then all bets are off. Personally, if you've done your financial homework and have saved adequately this might be a good time to step away from the business. If you're still in your working and must earning years you might consider re-aiming or re-training for a new business target that depends less on your skills at knowing your way around a keyboard and a camera menu and much more about critical jobs that people need and can't do for themselves.
And if you are securely retired and doing photos for fun you should count yourself lucky and more lucky. Because you don't have to change a single thing that you are doing right now. Keep shooting that 8x10 black and white sheet film. We love it.
If I were counseling a young person about career choices and they lived in Texas I can almost guarantee that all but the top 10% of students will, over their lifetimes, do a lot better in the skilled trades than in business administration, advertising, information processing and the like. Plumbers never go bankrupt because when one's toilet is overflowing or a pipe has burst in a wall people will pay whatever they have to in order to get stuff fixed. Ditto electricians. Ditto air conditioner and heater install/repair people. No, I fear for anyone who works with information. From teachers to bank staff to psychiatrists. Everything can be eventually overtaken by ever evolving A.I.
I've decided to pretend that the only thing that will change in my business is the steady loss of clients and revenue. Other than that I intend to go merrily along, buying random zany lenses, titillating camera bodies and new breeds of lights. After all, my paranoia could be totally misplaced and the value of a human point of view might come to be cherished and considered luxe in the future. I'll hope for the best and the rest of the time I'll shoot what I like.
And swim. And do strength training. And read inane blogs. And take long walks. This is the way of all things.
Welcome to work place dystopia.
