If technology evolves as you believe it will, what use will there be for humans? I'm not asking to be contrary. I'm truly concerned, and I think too few people are asking this question for fear of sounding alarmist. I read an article today on Axios about AI that argues that this technology could obliterate the white-collar workforce within the next year or two. I'd like to read something that balances the perceived benefits of AI with the likely reality that a large segment of the population will be left behind and their livelihoods destroyed.
I didn’t quite see any place in your article for conversations like this. Will these stop taking place altogether or will there be another form for them?
now the challenge is going to be using our skills and transferring them to this new intangible interface. like for example a marketer in 1990would make infomercials and now in 2025 marketers for large brands are using social media
incredible! change is definitely scary, but i would love to approach this shift with optimism because thats the only way to get the most out the shift especially as a young person
Great insight Sinéad per usual. I’m not sure the timeline for this shift from cell phones, it could be another 15-20 years before we cycle them out completely, but the advancement will be exponential. I love hearing your perspectives.
That made me curious about one thing. In the age of social media, marketplaces, and dating apps, the internet helped connecting people. If the internet becomes less human-centric, are we gonna need to go back to the good old days before the internet to connect with people again?
I’m confused. I spend about 10 minutes a week (at most) shopping on the internet. I’ve always hated phones; if people hated texting as much as I do, I”d probably almost never use the phone.
I don’t see how this article addresses all that I value on the net:
(1) Communicating face to face with people who live far away
(2) engaging in online community (not social media - Mighty Networks is the platform I love)
(3) watching videos
Does face to face communication, or text-based community interaction, or enjoying music and videos, have a place in this vision of the next step?
I’d love to see something that encourages people not to be walking around, looking at their phones and bumping into each other. I just am not able to see it here.
This doesn't account for the logic of the attention economy, which, regardless of agents, is still predicated on attention & data.
I don't see an obvious way where there won't be strong financial incentives to keep people engaged online, regardless of whether it's good for them or not.
I am new to all this and not a tech, though I am really enjoying using "Chatty" (have I given it life by naming it😁☹️) as my search engine, getting an answer that Google doesn't provide in Gemini or the trad browser search. I have read so much on this topic that my brain hurts trying to work out how it works out!
You describe using Agents to do stuff by voice commands and getting IT to actually finalise transactions (payments, bookings etc). Have you written them yourself (naive Q ?), do you a chosen LLM or a different one for each task? Could a non coder use one of your Agentic wonders and how would that work?
"My agent pulls my usual orders from Amazon, books my Ubers, drafts and sends my communications, mostly in response to my voice commands. The browsing, clicking, and swiping that serve as our current interactive relationship with the technology start to disappear. "
But why is this at all useful?
How can I trust an agent to correctly place the uber pickup pin at the exit I will use from my office, rather than the building's legal address around the corner? Dragging the pin into position by hand on my phone sounds far more precise and already super convenient.
Why would an agent be better at ordering my amazon products? For trivial purchases like toiletries, the process is already super easy - just search the exact product name and click "add to cart". For nontrivial purchases, mediating my research through a voice interface seems strictly worse than using a web browser to check out reviews and products from different places.
Very good analysis. I can definitely see purchasing being automated in a way that requires little human input beyond a voice command. That could probably be accomplished now with current technology.
For most part I think the big shift will be a shift from text input command devices to voice based commands, if the devices be like mobile phones or wearables is yet to be seen
It's not glasses. It must be smaller, less intrusive. Earpiece, pin, bracelet perhaps - but wearables have generally already proven themselves undesirable. Let's see 👀 we may not move away from carrying screens, but away from having to type and navigate - if we can speak to it softly and use better features as commands... we still want to watch and see stuff on our screens. I'd love to be free of the device though I think we're a while off.
How will this affect systems that support racism? Will tech development in the agent-forward future take the 'oops sorry' approach to blunders, intentional or otherwise?
If technology evolves as you believe it will, what use will there be for humans? I'm not asking to be contrary. I'm truly concerned, and I think too few people are asking this question for fear of sounding alarmist. I read an article today on Axios about AI that argues that this technology could obliterate the white-collar workforce within the next year or two. I'd like to read something that balances the perceived benefits of AI with the likely reality that a large segment of the population will be left behind and their livelihoods destroyed.
I wrote about the threat automation presents and why I don’t think leaders are doing nearly enough to address it
https://open.substack.com/pub/sineadbovell/p/60-of-todays-jobs-didnt-exist-80?r=5iie2&utm_medium=ios
Thank you for the link. Delving into it now.
I didn’t quite see any place in your article for conversations like this. Will these stop taking place altogether or will there be another form for them?
now the challenge is going to be using our skills and transferring them to this new intangible interface. like for example a marketer in 1990would make infomercials and now in 2025 marketers for large brands are using social media
100%! Akin to going from the expert in catalogue marketing to social media marketing except over 4-5 years versus 20
incredible! change is definitely scary, but i would love to approach this shift with optimism because thats the only way to get the most out the shift especially as a young person
Great insight Sinéad per usual. I’m not sure the timeline for this shift from cell phones, it could be another 15-20 years before we cycle them out completely, but the advancement will be exponential. I love hearing your perspectives.
Ya it’s really tricky to put a full timeline on it. Home phones to cell phones took decades. iPhone overtook blackberry in about 6-7 years.
So curious to hear your opinion on Klarna's backpedalling of AI integration with their customer service department.
Do you think they were just too early to adopt such an aggressive shift?
Oooo I have so much to say here! Hmmm.. maybe I should write something on it!
What a ridiculously depressing time we live in.
Interesting point of view!
That made me curious about one thing. In the age of social media, marketplaces, and dating apps, the internet helped connecting people. If the internet becomes less human-centric, are we gonna need to go back to the good old days before the internet to connect with people again?
Just a thought :)
I’m confused. I spend about 10 minutes a week (at most) shopping on the internet. I’ve always hated phones; if people hated texting as much as I do, I”d probably almost never use the phone.
I don’t see how this article addresses all that I value on the net:
(1) Communicating face to face with people who live far away
(2) engaging in online community (not social media - Mighty Networks is the platform I love)
(3) watching videos
Does face to face communication, or text-based community interaction, or enjoying music and videos, have a place in this vision of the next step?
I’d love to see something that encourages people not to be walking around, looking at their phones and bumping into each other. I just am not able to see it here.
What am I missing??
This doesn't account for the logic of the attention economy, which, regardless of agents, is still predicated on attention & data.
I don't see an obvious way where there won't be strong financial incentives to keep people engaged online, regardless of whether it's good for them or not.
Great insight. I wonder how people will search? Just voice?
I am new to all this and not a tech, though I am really enjoying using "Chatty" (have I given it life by naming it😁☹️) as my search engine, getting an answer that Google doesn't provide in Gemini or the trad browser search. I have read so much on this topic that my brain hurts trying to work out how it works out!
You describe using Agents to do stuff by voice commands and getting IT to actually finalise transactions (payments, bookings etc). Have you written them yourself (naive Q ?), do you a chosen LLM or a different one for each task? Could a non coder use one of your Agentic wonders and how would that work?
"My agent pulls my usual orders from Amazon, books my Ubers, drafts and sends my communications, mostly in response to my voice commands. The browsing, clicking, and swiping that serve as our current interactive relationship with the technology start to disappear. "
But why is this at all useful?
How can I trust an agent to correctly place the uber pickup pin at the exit I will use from my office, rather than the building's legal address around the corner? Dragging the pin into position by hand on my phone sounds far more precise and already super convenient.
Why would an agent be better at ordering my amazon products? For trivial purchases like toiletries, the process is already super easy - just search the exact product name and click "add to cart". For nontrivial purchases, mediating my research through a voice interface seems strictly worse than using a web browser to check out reviews and products from different places.
I wrote this recently. There is a huge flood coming because of AI. An epistemological fatigue will follow. Thomism can lead people back to Truth.
https://stilicho.substack.com/p/we-were-not-meant-to-know-everythingonly
pardon my poor manners
Very good analysis. I can definitely see purchasing being automated in a way that requires little human input beyond a voice command. That could probably be accomplished now with current technology.
For most part I think the big shift will be a shift from text input command devices to voice based commands, if the devices be like mobile phones or wearables is yet to be seen
It's not glasses. It must be smaller, less intrusive. Earpiece, pin, bracelet perhaps - but wearables have generally already proven themselves undesirable. Let's see 👀 we may not move away from carrying screens, but away from having to type and navigate - if we can speak to it softly and use better features as commands... we still want to watch and see stuff on our screens. I'd love to be free of the device though I think we're a while off.
How will this affect systems that support racism? Will tech development in the agent-forward future take the 'oops sorry' approach to blunders, intentional or otherwise?