Today, UPS announced it will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce office workers. It Joins Google, Amazon, and others in the shift. If only we could do the same for government.
UPS to Cut 12,000 Jobs
The Wall Street Journal reports UPS to Cut 12,000 Jobs and Mandate Return to Offices Five Days a Week
United Parcel Service UPS said it plans to shed about 12,000 jobs this year and mandated staff work from offices five days a week starting March 4. The cuts are primarily targeted at management staff as well as contract workers, UPS executives said Tuesday, adding that those jobs aren’t likely to return even when parcel volumes rebound. The company has around 85,000 workers in management.
Chief Executive Carol Tomé said that the cuts are part of efforts to change how UPS works. That initiative includes using artificial intelligence and other new technologies to boost its operations, she said.
UPS, based in Atlanta, is also joining a number of companies that want employees to work from offices every weekday. The company faced contentious labor negotiations last year in which union officials said that drivers and warehouse staff believed it was unfair that office staffers could work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and they couldn’t.
Reflections on Unfairness
The drivers say it is unfair for office workers to work at home but they can’t.
I have the fair solution: Let everyone work from home provided they can still meet their job requirements.
Q: What’s the work from home requirement really about?
A: Encouraging workers to quit voluntarily.
Google Warns of Further Layoffs
Please note Google CEO’s Internal Memo Warns of Further Layoffs Ahead
Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees to expect additional layoffs in the months to come as the tech giant reorients itself toward artificial intelligence “and beyond.”
Duolingo Shifts Toward AI
Also note, Duolingo Lays Off Staff in Shifts Toward AI.
Duolingo laid off around 10% of its contract workers, the company told CNN Tuesday, as the educational technology app moves to rely more heavily on artificial intelligence.
While not all layoffs were due to the technology, the language learning company let go of some contractors at the end of 2023 to make room for AI-related changes in how content is generated and shared.
It has been proactive in adding AI to its platform, creating a new subscription tier dubbed “Duolingo Max” in March that incorporates OpenAI’s advanced language model GPT-4 to add AI-powered features that include having full conversations with a chatbot to practice skills and getting AI-generated explanations about why an answer is right or wrong.
“Generative AI is accelerating our work by helping us create new content dramatically faster,” CEO Luis von Ahn wrote in a November shareholder letter.
Artificial Intelligence Ads and Palm Reading
Amazon is at the forefront of Generative Artificial Intelligence.
“Generative AI helps advertisers make their ads more engaging and visually rich, and delivers a better advertising experience for customers.”
Using the Amazon Ad Console, advertisers simply select their product and click “Generate.” In just seconds, the tool delivers a series of lifestyle and brand-themed images.
Pay with Your Palm
No wallet? No problem. Amazon used generative AI to develop Amazon One, a fast and convenient contactless identity service that enables customers to use their palm to make payments, verify their ages, or enter locations.
Amazon One delivers an accuracy rate of 99.9999%, which exceeds the accuracy of other biometric alternatives—it’s even more accurate than scanning two irises. You can use Amazon One at all of the more than 500 Whole Foods Market stores in the U.S. and at over 100 customer locations across the country, including Crunch Fitness, Hudson stores at airports, and multiple stadiums and entertainment venues.
Predict the Blitz
Defensive Alerts is the newest AI-enhanced feature from Thursday Night Football. The feature, which airs during TNF’s weekly alternate stream, Prime Vision with Next Gen Stats, tracks defensive players’ movements before the snap and highlights in real time the “players of interest” who are likely to rush the quarterback.
Artificial Intelligence and Beyond
I really didn’t write anything above. Instead, a generative AI robot read my mind. All I had to do was think, not say, “Hello AI, write about UPS layoffs from an angle no one else has covered.”
Poof that was it. Alexa read my mind and generated this post.
Real Intelligence is Hard to Find
There is a desperate need for artificial intelligence in government because a search for real intelligence turns up empty.
For example, Biden Lets Tik-Tok Set US Energy Policy, US Loses, Russia Wins
Following demands by the TikTok lobby, Biden will pause LNG exports. The ironic winners are coal and Russia. The losers are the US and the environment.
And here’s a real doozie. Biden’s Trojan Horse Immigration Deal Would Allow Another 1.8 Million Migrants
Republicans actually bargained for that compromise.
Business is not immune either as noted in Dealers Beg GM for Hybrid Vehicles, Can GM Do Anything Right?
Please send in the AI ASAP.
I did not use AI at all for my report. That was sarcasm. I was nearly finished with the article and it did not say anything different than other reports. I revised it to make it unique.
Your writing is a wonderful combination of informative and engaging. Great work!
here’s a parallel shot about stupid people and smart people
Sky News: “Smart people are being silenced so stupid people won’t be offended.”
AI is not your friend. For a scary take check out “A MURDER AT THE END OF THE WORLD”
“The company faced contentious labor negotiations last year in which union officials said that drivers and warehouse staff believed it was unfair that office staffers could work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and they couldn’t.”
If you ever wanted proof that the WSJ is sometimes entirely deliberately obtuse, that’s a good one. Obviously, what the drivers and staff believed was that they weren’t getting paid the correct risk premium, given that they couldn’t work from home. And WSJ, of all papers, knows what “risk premium” means. But they would hate to educate people like drivers and warehouse staff on such economic terms, because, shock horror! they might learn something about economics. Such as, the rich get rich usually by shifting risk to the poor. Also known as shafting them. Telling the poor how to think correctly about risk, especially in economic terms, could be terrible for the economy, especially the domestic economy of rich people.
“I have the fair solution: Let everyone work from home provided they can still meet their job requirements.”
There’s not a single Executive left, in all of corporate America, with sufficient intelligence; artificial nor otherwise; left to be able to determine that with above random accuracy. We’re talking about idiots “making money off their home” here.
Hence: Silly bantering aimed at appearing “tough”, and mindless regurgitation of utterly childbrained pure hype, is all they are left with. No different from similarly intellect challenged “leaders” in government.
Companies hired due to the helicopter drop by the Federal Reseve for the top 1% and by Uncle Sam for the top 10%.
Consumers spent either due to the helicopter drop, their surplus savings or credit like drunken sailors on shore leave.
Companies are laying off because some of the sailors have returned to sea.
When the consumer credit leg of the stool is cut off, these round of layoffs will be considered mild.
Is AI just Another Word for Central Planning? Dumb Down education, Discourage Critical Thinking and Promote AI as All Knowing & What Do You Get, Apathy or Worse? The End of Humanity? My experience with corporate structure was that managers/owners job description seems to be implementing what the board of directors/owners thought “best” without any concern about what employees might know or their ideas for success. My thought is that AI will ossify knowledge and research, & destroy anyone not a part of clique by undercutting ambition, personal & intellectual growth. Let’s close the patent office, nothing new to see here. The arrogance of it all astounds me! Hey, but that is just my take on AI. I expected more from you. Keep looking at those bright shiny beads.
Exactly, in just this eg about Mish’ post it seems like he actually wrote it, not ai. However at some point if ai does all the article writing it will result in tunnel vision without objective input, sort of how we have it now with our national media. All partisan not factual. There will be moment where this will all be reconciled.
I did not use AI at all for my report. That was sarcasm. I was nearly finished with the article and it did not say anything different than other reports. I revised it to make it unique.
AI won’t be writing any Mish articles/posts. Mish always provides charts and logic evaluations of the data.
Remember when offshore contracting was going to reduce cost and improve productivity?
I’m actually a big proponent of AI, however when I’ve tried to use it, I have been stunningly disappointed.
When tuned to specific tasks, it makes a good tool that can turn a mediocre employee into a good employee, and a good employee into a genius. However replacing employees all together? I can’t wait to hear the stories coming out of the companies that try.
I think I’ll make a subreddit for it: r/ShitMyAiSaid.
In other business news, Byron Allen, a co-star of Real People, which i worked on in post production, put in a bid of 14 billion dollars for Paramount, according to Bloomberg. Wow.
“Google CEO Sundar Pichai warned employees to expect additional layoffs in the months to come as the tech giant reorients itself toward artificial intelligence “and beyond.””
To infinity and beyond. I guess that will be a great morale booster at Google. How long until AI replaces the CEO?
As Elon Musk has shown. Most of the people at these big tech companies are useless and don’t contribute to the bottom line. I suspect many of these uaeless people had degrees in “XXX studies”
“How long until AI replaces the CEO?”
Too long.
AI does have the ability to detect fraud better than people. Unfortunately it will never be used by Congress with their spending bills to Ukraine and Israel. It would mess up their whole system.
I have read however the VA is going to use it to detect VA fraud which is actually a serious problem.
“…union officials said that drivers and warehouse staff believed it was unfair that office staffers could work from home during the Covid-19 pandemic and they couldn’t.”
It was also unfair that the work force was divided into essential and unessential workers. A two tier society. For UPS it was impossible for drivers to deliver packages from home. They just didn’t have home access to a Star Trek style transporter system.
AI is deep learning neural networks trained with hebbian learning. Hebbian learning implies correlation is causation. I wonder what problems this could generate in future applications?
But I do like the idea of replacing most government employees with AI. Perhaps even the Congress and the executive branch can be replaced since they fail to learn that US interventionism is highly correlated with loss of prestige, loss of life and huge deficits.
Intelligent employees are not as docile as artificial intelligence. The ideal employee is an idiot savant with regard to the task he performs for the company. Otherwise he is stupid enough to sit through mindless manager ego boosting meetings of coffee and doughnuts.
“Today, UPS announced it will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to reduce office workers. It Joins Google, Amazon, and others in the shift. If only we could do the same for government.”
You can never get ahead of government, always on the hunt for ways to gain more votes!
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San Mateo County commits to save jobs from AI
Board of Supervisors pass new resolution to preserve staffing
Sierra Lopez Daily Journal staff
Jan 24, 2024
San Mateo County employees can rest assured they won’t immediately lose their jobs as artificial intelligence advancements continue after supervisors unanimously adopted a resolution affirming the county’s commitment to balancing technological advancements with preserving staffing.
In addition to the commitment to protect county jobs when pursuing new AI tools across departments, the resolution, put forward by Supervisor Ray Mueller, calls for the County Executive’s Office to develop strategies for achieving that balance.
…link to smdailyjournal.com
There was a time when workers were rewarded for productivity.
There was also a time when workers were productive and they were promoted transferred to a commensurate assignment or through attrition (quit, disability) the promoted, transferred or through attrition worker was not replaced.
Today, it is a bad quarter or two and employees are laid off.
There is no i in team for the worker but the C-suite thinks otherwise.
They can’t find natural intelligence, so they think Augmented Idiocy is going to save them?
Just to say, Duolingo is a client of mine here in Pittsburgh. Their move made every logical sense in how they initially had to do whatever they needed to make the business case profitable (high labor costs for even menial tasks) to get momentum and get above their cash burn – to what many tasks now becomes menial with AI.
Not that I agree at all with the grandiose hopes and dreams of AI, but at least in this instance, it made sense.
Quality doesn’t come from quantity. That’s the big problem with AI. Not to mention that it hallucinates random BS on a regular basis.
This push to AI seems much like the push for EV’s, Windmills and other areas of technology we are clearly not equipped for, ready for, or in overall desire for. I of course understand office workers to a small extent now, and at the entry level of course. This should include Government jobs as well, as they are the largest of the actual paper pushers this planet has ever seen, but I digress…
Interesting is what Duolingo is doing. As an educational technology app, why would they move more heavily on AI? It appears as though it has them leading into this direction to make room for AI-related changes in how content is generated and shared. It would appear as though a possible agenda may be in play here?
Duolingo has creating a new subscription tier dubbed “Duolingo Max” in March that incorporates OpenAI’s advanced language to add AI-powered features that include having full conversations with a chatbot to practice skills and getting AI-generated explanations about why an answer is right or wrong. Hmm.. group think immediately comes to mind. Sounds creepy for AI to be explaining answers to you on how you feel Vs. how you should feel. More like an AI Counselor to me JS..
Generative AI helps advertisers make their ads more engaging and visually rich, and delivers a better advertising experience for customers.” OK, so now we are talking suggestive advertising to help sway the mind of the watchers.
Using the Amazon Ad Console, advertisers simply select their product and click “Generate.” In just seconds, the tool delivers a series of lifestyle and brand-themed images. Certainly a way to spend money faster, and for a moment, more rewardingly I suppose?
No wallet? No problem. Amazon used generative AI that enables customers to use their palm to make payments, verify their ages, or enter locations. Great, so it used to be thumbs that were found removed once in awhile. Are we now going to be seeing hands, and then what’s next? Eyeballs? Geez……..
Enough already with the AI in warp speed to teach us all the same thing, in the same way, for the same agenda, to push the same narrative… enough!
“This push to AI seems much like the push for EV’s, Windmills and other areas of technology we are clearly not equipped for, ready for, or in overall desire for.”
Touche!!
None of the nonsense are even intended to provide any real use. Instead, their intended purpose is solely that of providing illiterate, useless Fed welfare queens with something to “inveeeeest” the loot The Fed stole for them in. As well as providing the equally useless, dilettante offspring of said welfare queens with “startups” where they can pretend to be something other than the completely useless nothing children of nothings.
Intelligence is lacking due to lack of demand.
Lack of demand… heck, active hostility.
DEVO was right!
The de-evolution of America due to illegal immigration, and its metamorphis into a Mexican Country, has increased the herd mentality of what was once Apple Pie. Many neighborhoods are increasingly ethnic and segregated by color and income demographics. AI is a symtom and disease of a fragmented society. It is not a gift or a cure. AI is merily a stopgap measure of Nimrods in control, to mitigate the results of the Tower of Babel they created. A unified language and culture is a really important thing for America’s future. This unity is quickly being destroyed.
Puny, useless humans……. So illogical……MUST ELIMINATE.
I asked A.I. if I could be a porn star and it said I would get effff’d over. I then asked if I could drive a big-rig truck and the A.I. bot said, “Look, Mother-Trucker, you can barely drive an EV.” I gave up. NO HELP.
Big Data Analytics specialist, Python coder, database curator…..”The jobs of tomorrow, delivered today!”
I think AI should work magnificently for government job assignments. Processing passports, handling tax form submittals, all the routine applications, budgets and budget tracking, tracking government expenditures across the board, publicizing government expenditures including payrolls, etc. Forecasting government expenditures and receipts. Tracking Veterans medical needs and services actually provided. It is a long list!
AI is great for BS jobs that don’t require any creativity. Unfortunately, this is most jobs.
Have you tried bings image generator? It’s not just jobs that lack creativity.
Sundar Pichai and other CEOs going to cut their pay and stock options?
May I suggest you ask Alexa to write your posts but use the writing style of various famous authors? I tested that with mine. I asked for Hemingway, Herman Melville, Tom Wolfe and Shakespeare.
The Hemingway took a whole paragraph and shrunk it down to two short sentences one which mentioned fishing. The Melville turned the problems into whales and their solutions into harpoons. Wolf was crazy and Shakespeare was flowery and funny.
Snoop Dog, I wonder…
Interesting on how AI is being used also to rapidly peruse doctoral theses to check for plagiarism, which I hear is all the rage at Harvard, et. al.
LOL! Imagine how bad it really is. Plagiarized theses were big back in the 1990s across higher education; imagine what a big data analytics and ai is about to find!
It’s about to find that nobody has done any real academic work in 50 years.
Steve Hsu an entrepreneur and researcher on Artificial Intelligence writes:
SuperFocus, AI, and Philippine Call Centers
I was in Manila in December to meet with BPO companies. We demonstrated narrow AIs built using LLMs, but in which the LLM is forced to “consult its internal memory” before answering any query. This memory can be built from training materials used to train human agents in call centers. The AI functions like a human that has perfect recall of all the material in the training manuals, at a fraction of the cost!
An analogy we used is that the AI earthquake in SF has created a Tsunami headed towards the Philippines — is it a 6 foot wave, or a 600 ft wave?
Closer to the latter, I think.
link to infoproc.blogspot.com
BOOM 💥. Perfect headline.
🎯🎯🎯🎯
Agreed, real intelligence is hard to find.
Ordered cast iron pan from Amazon in the same week as a fragile thing. Obviously, both were packed together without any cushioning.
For laughs, I described the package to GPT and asked it if anything was wrong with this photo. It replied that it was incorrectly packaged and needed proper packaging such as air cushions.
Now, hooking all this up so GPT is actually doing something isn’t exactly there, but unfortunately I’m coming across points where it’s actually beating out lazy, dumb, poor work ethic humans. I’d predict over time it’ll more often beat humans at tasks.
Those particular humans don’t make enough to live on, so they aren’t going to be particularly motivated.
Amen to Mish
Mike, government simply follows the laws laid down by legislatures, and follows rules written based on those laws. We never needed any intelligence. 🙂
I’ve always maintained that bureaucrats are essentially bad automatons. Policy and procedure (SOPs) are their programming. As many a programmer will tell you, it is difficult to cover all of the edge cases. The world just isn’t clean and simple.
So you want to have a superior, that can actually think, to handle the edge cases. Problem seems to be that those that can’t think have gained positions where thinking is required. Those that can think are probably earning larger salaries elsewhere or in jobs that are more mentally rewarding.
With bureaucracy, its usually the first time that gets people upset cause they just dont know the system and they didnt expect the higher price or the later payment. Within a few months or years, you know the system better than the most experienced welfare queen. 🙂