OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has reignited the debate over what counts as real work amid rising fears over job losses to artificial intelligence (AI). Speaking at an event recently, he compared modern jobs to those of a farmer 50 years ago and suggested many current roles might not seem like “real work” to past generations.
During OpenAI's DevDay event earlier this month, Altman was asked about how a farmer from 50 years ago might view today's jobs. He replied, “The thing about that farmer… [is that] they very likely would look at what you do or I do and say, ‘that's not real work.'”
“If you're farming, you're doing something people really need. You're making them food, like you're keeping people alive. This is real work. And you, all you people of the future, like life just got too easy for you,” he added.
Altman said past generations might view many modern jobs as mere games people play to feel useful. He said they might not see such work as real, even though it feels meaningful to those doing it. He added that in the future, jobs might look even less “real” or tangible than today's work.
“It's very possible that if we could see those jobs of the future, we would be like, okay, well, you know, maybe our jobs were not as real as a farmer's job, but it's a lot more real than this game you're playing to entertain yourself,” he said.
However, Altman's comments did not go down well with Netizens.
“According to Sam Altman, if AI kills your job, don't worry—it probably wasn't real work anyway. So that's where we're at. Silicon Valley has officially lost the plot,” an X user commented, sharing Altman's viral remarks.
His critics argued that Altman's remarks overlook people in vulnerable or low-paid jobs as the influence of automation grows. Meanwhile, his supporters are of the view that Altman means that AI will remove boring and repetitive tasks.
AI may take one's job, but Altman said, "I think we'll find plenty of things to do." Amid his viral comments, a post by Altman on X in 2021 is also doing the rounds online.
In that post, Altman had predicted that jobs that involve sitting in front of the computer will most likely be affected due to AI.
AI is changing how much different jobs are worth, according to Sam Altman.
December 23, 2024
If your job mainly involves sitting at a computer - like coding, design, or writing - AI can now do a lot of that work super quickly, these will make these jobs less valuable.
It's much easier for AI to… pic.twitter.com/nJd7D2IvKZ“AI will cause the price of work that can happen in front of a computer to decrease much faster than the price of work that happens in the physical world,” he had said.
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