But seriously, AI is nothing at all to fear…
In the 2016 film, Hidden Figures, Octavia Spencer portrays Dorothy Vaughan, brilliantly. Not surprisingly, of course.
“Dorothy Vaughan was assigned to the segregated “West Area Computing” unit, an all-black group of female mathematicians, who were originally required to use separate dining and bathroom facilities. Over time, both individually and as a group, the West Computers distinguished themselves with contributions to virtually every area of research at Langley.” [1]
In the film, NASA was transitioning from human computers to the IBM 7090 computer. Rather than letting fear enter her psyche, Dorothy learns to program the IBM 7090. She goes on to caution, then teach her department how to code lest they find themselves unemployed.
Taraji P. Henson’s Character – Katherine Johnson
According to a Popular Mechanics article, “John Glenn did request that Johnson specifically check and confirm trajectories and entry points that the IBM spat out (albeit, perhaps, not at the exact moment that the movie depicts). As Shetterly wrote in her book and explained in a September NPR interview, Glenn did not completely trust the computer. So, he asked the head engineers to ‘get the girl to check the numbers… If she says the numbers are good… I’m ready to go.’” [2]
No need to Fear AI
When my son was in 1st grade back in the 1990’s, I had an interesting discussion with his teacher. I was informed that the jobs for kids in my son’s age group had not even been created yet. There were no titles. Technology was moving that quickly.
Have you ever heard someone say, “I automated myself out of a job”? While this does happen, most automated technology still requires human involvement. Artificial Intelligence is the same, I believe.
To stay relevant in today’s business world, we must, as individuals, continue to innovate. Whether it is software or social media. Fifteen years ago, the title “Social Media Specialist” was not in use. Today, all businesses must have one, whether as an employee or a contractor.
As a Virtual Assistant today, the majority of my clients ask for social media content creation as well as scheduling posts. Even with all the bots available, humans need to update, maintenance and proofread their content.
In fifteen years, do I expect to be doing the same thing for my clients? Absolutely not. There will be new technology to learn and execute. I choose to take Dorothy Vaughn’s approach and be fearless. How about you? Does AI frighten you or challenge you? Talk to me – E
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