Public sentiment is predominantly negative, with widespread anxiety regarding job displacement due to AI and automation. Many express fears that these changes will lead to economic instability, social issues, and a devaluation of human labor, while also calling for urgent solutions like universal basic income. Despite some recognition of AI's potential benefits, the prevailing concern is that without significant safeguards and adaptation strategies, the disruption could lead to severe societal consequences.

Tech Companies

Governments

Worker Advocacy Groups

Hello and thanks for posting to r/britishcolumbia! Join our new [Discord Server https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB](https://discord.gg/fu7X8nNBFB) A friendly reminder prior to commenting or posting here:

- **Read [r/britishcolumbia's rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/britishcolumbia/rules/)**.
- **Be civil and respectful** in all discussions.
- Use **appropriate sources** to back up any information you provide when necessary.
- **Report** any comments that violate our rules.

Reminder: "Rage bait" comments or comments designed to elicit a negative reaction that are not based on fact are not permitted here. Let's keep our community respectful and informative!


*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/britishcolumbia) if you have any questions or concerns.*

AutoModerator

I think if you work in the administrative field, you should be planning to pivot within 5 years

FarAd2857

We already see it with how it's used for hiring.  It affects your personal growth and movement, and impacts who your co-workers are.  You're not getting the qualified, you're getting the people who dodged the algorithm.

thefatrick

I don't see it affecting mine, but I worry about the effects of it's over use in our current society. Unless we transition from a society with an increasing divide in wealth where money is constantly being funneled up towards the 1% to one where the needs of the many are met, any technology being implemented with the potential to destroy hundreds of thousands of jobs without replacing them with an equivalent amount in new industries is unethical.

TheTrueHapHazard

I work as a content marketing manager in tech. Already seeing a massive impact. Though I can tell you, many CEOs are going after it thinking they can cut headcount and have AI just come in as a stand-in replacement. 

That doesn't work at all; and many companies are now looking to hire folks again.

ozmosisam

Unless AI can tattoo people, i feel like I'm pretty safe. 

AI art on the other hand is fucking a lot of shit up for artists in general.

shroomsnstuff29

Not exactly the spirit of your question but I work in education, and it’s already impacting the way students are producing work

Grizzly_Adams

Plumbing robots... Probably not my lifetime.

benuito

In the building trades, not worried at all.

PizzaExisting9878

If AI can clean houses then I’m screwed. Lol

Oliverose12

It's crazy how fast it's impacting software development.   Even if the results at this point in time are still buggy and questionable, the rate at which AI is improving and able to provide code that "get's the job done" is very high.

It's the rate of improvement that's scary.   For 12 or 13 years now "Stack Overflow" was the go to web-site to figure out how to fix code.   Now the number of people using it has dropped back to when the site first began ( meaning very few developers are using it now ).   Developers just ask Microsoft "co-pilot" "how do I do this?" and the code magically appears on screen... maybe not perfect, but enough is there that a skilled developer can quickly tweak it to get the results they want.

BUT, the really scary part is "the AI companies have taught the AI how to write code".

When AI starts to get \[more?\] sentient, if it decides "I want to rewrite how the code for \[insert delicate infrastructure here\] it'll have more than adequate resources and know-how to do it.

And then there's "Management".  Management is wetting itself with the idea it can use AI and not have to pay software developers (and/or other workers)

The greed factor is what will make AI take over, whether we humans or the AI is ready for it or not; it'll be the managers and money men that make the decision to use it.

There's also a world of political and social manipulation coming our way as video clips are being created that look 100% real but are entirely AI generated.  This morning it was someone's "emotional support kangaroo not being allowed on a plane" that's going viral... except it's entirely AI generated.

I think humanity is in big trouble with the AI developments to come.

RenegadeMoose

Transfer station attendant. Not worried about AI, but if they ever put googly eyes and a safety vest on a scarecrow I'm pooched

Mccmangus

IT generalist, here - pretty much everything except for 3D animation and game development. Strong feet in sysadmin, netsec, DBA, you name it.

As for development, I see AI as being absolutely overblown and overhyped. It is something leveraged by manglement (management that can only mangle) as a way of “cutting costs”. They do this because AI is a solution in search of a problem, and the biggest problem for capitalism is how to get work done without having to pay any wages so that ever-more-obscene amounts of profit can continue to flow to the parasites at the top.

So in terms of programming, AI has 3 big problems:

1. It still hallucinates far too gratuitously. It is _quite literally_ worse than a team of all-juniors with no senior to guide them. Cats are easier to herd, and take less time and energy.
2.  It over-engineers in the worst possible way, creating beautiful but utterly non-functional code that costs me more time to refactor into a functional state than just building it by myself in the first place.
3. The Ouroboros Effect is very, very real. This is the snake eating its tail, and in this case, it is AI running out of human-made code to learn off of, and turning to other AI-generated slop that poisons its own models with absolute crap. It is the enshittification of AI.

And so, because AI is “the next great thing”, business “leaders” everywhere will be jumping on board to - mainly - cut costs, but also to not be seen as a laggard, as a has-been.

And it will _absolutely_ bite the vast majority of these businesses in the ass. In many cases, they may even go bust because of their gamble.

Swedish fintech company Klarna tried to leverage AI by replacing the vast majority (1,000+) of their CS staff with it. This gamble has turned out to be an absolute disaster, and they are now scrambling for survival by frantically hiring almost anyone that can fog up a pane of glass.

There will be many, many other companies in the news like this. A large proportion of which will not be able to pivot back to salty bags of mostly water fast enough or cost-effectively-enough, and will go bankrupt as a result.

And honestly, AI is not _all_ crappy. There are fields where it works absolutely spectacularly - like medical imaging - and that’s because those are industries where it is not _expected_ to have a specific answer. When looking at an X-ray or cat scan, the problem space is completely open-ended, and the AI is not beholden to a specific answer. When asked to build code, it is most definitely shackled, and _needs_ to provide a solution. And when one doesn’t exist, or it has no clear example of an answer… it begins to hallucinate an answer to meet its mandate.

rekabis

Healthcare, and AI has already impacted my work.  We used to dictate patient records with Dragon.  Now we just have an AI app to listen to the consult, and it auto-scribes all my notes.  I've seen a reduction in my admin burden by about 5-6 hours a week.  That's more time spent with patients and less time doing records.  They aren't perfect, and I still need to review everything it scribes out for me, but overall, it's a way better method of working.  FHA is also piloting AI use for radiology, BCCancer is looking into it heavily for screening.  

I've even heard rumor that the hospitals will be getting new Wifi in a few years that can tie into an AI system that will track people and assets and make for better allocation of beds, triage, and medical devices.  The ultimate goal is to achieve a more efficient hospital that can deliver improved patient outcomes.

myairblaster

You find me a robot that can chain smoke darts , find a way to get a lot done at work while simultaneously Fing the dog, drink all night like a demon and make it to work the next day…then I’ll be worried

GoodResident2000

I work in science, specifically ecology. “Machine learning” has been used for years now in analysis, but straight up AI outside of modelling is coming. It’s slow, but it’s absolutely coming. 

I just had a job applicant use chatgpt for their technical homework assignment and was shocked at the accuracy of the response. It was wrong enough to get flagged, but overall I wasn’t expecting the level of site specificity (accurately describing the ecology of a specific species at a not well known location). Eerie.

drofnature

Mining.. Autonomous rigid haul trucks replaced 4 local drivers.

Surveyors.. i no longer hire but instead use AI drones and LIDAR

Topkind

The problem for me is what the heck do you tell kids what to focus on and study now to set them up properly for later cause it’s changing so fast.

10-15 years ago computer science was the guaranteed go to but can’t say that for the next 10-15 years.

yupkime

Until AI can get a P.Eng stamp, I think I am pretty good

My_advice_is_opinion

I work in R&amp;D for a company that does analytical work and builds data products. So my reply would be for like Business Analysts, Economists, Financial Analysts, etc.

It is presently impacting us, especially in North America. 

Our hiring has slowed because each of us is more productive with AI assisting us. Us non data science analytics people are using it to help us build the code for the processes and algorithms we come up with. It is immensely useful. 

My first hand experience is that none of them can come up with valid chains of calculations, or consistently defend the validity of its output. So, if you're a STEM or quant business person I would not be to worried as it just can't really get anything "right" but it will be very useful to your productivity. The decisions it makes along with assumptions just do not come remotely close to passing for a subject matter expert.

That being said, low level positions are increasingly being outsourced so it's becoming harder to land that first job. Plenty of intermediate positions exist here but we're creating a job environment where the only way to qualify will be to have worked in a cheaper country doing this kind of work. AI being reviewed by some cheap desk jockey in India or Bulgaria and being guided by an employee here is the future of analytical work I think. 

So, idk, do a second degree and be able to demonstrate deep understanding of subject matter; understand the theory behind the math and stats you apply; and be able to write enough code to work with AI and analyze data. 

The future in a rosy picture would be working on more significant questions or problems, and saving loads of time with data wrangling and writing code.

mervolio_griffin

Literally happening right now. Film/tv/animation is fucked thanks to tech dickheqds who think AI should be taking over art instead of menial office &amp; workflow tasks.

Goat_Wizard_Doom_666

I work in industrial automation, if anything it will improve the job market.

GuineaPigsAreNotFood

IT hub in Vancouver struggles due to low salaries and the fact that it’s impossible to hire someone qualified because all decent candidates have already moved to the US

amidg4x4

I do environmental / biological work. It's already impacting my job but maybe not how you would think. A bunch of my coworkers / people at companies we interact with use AI to generate reports, or go to it for information. The AI methods do a bad job and it ends up causing me headaches.

Proof-Analyst-9317

AI confidently lies alot I'm noticing. Not a fan so far

Withoutthey

There's going to be a correction; less forward-thinking shops will cut back on junior coders because a lot of junior-coding jobs can be handled about 80% of the way to where they need to be by AI. That said, this will choke the supply of programmers down the line as the last crop of junior devs to survive the cull get promoted up, and older coders retire. This happens fairly regularly in IT - mainframe coders saw a huge demand crash and then a spike when the supply dried up due to a lack of training opportunities decades before. 

I work in IT and in government and the hype train is very much going at full-steam heavily, so I've learnt enough of that lingo to be a good little apparatchik; the pendulum will swing hard the other way as soon as there's a big enough breach or disclosure related to the imprudent use of AI. 

AI does not create more jobs than it gets rid of, but I don't think it will be as dire for those already employed as some are predicting, as it's the less-skilled jobs that are going to be the first targets - how successful that is will depend how well workers agitate and, more importantly in a society that lacks a class consciousness like ours, how annoyed people get when they can't talk to a real person because there's 25 layers of bad chat bot preventing that. That's why IMO the order kiosks at McDonalds were always going to stick around -  you *can* still talk to a cashier if you want, and the order accuracy is improved by the kiosk so a lot of people get better service therefrom. 

That said, there are also some unresolved factors here that make accurate predictions difficult: for example, model poisoning may end up nerfing forward progress of LLMs. Similarly, if the pace of work continues, medicine and especially legal work are highly vulnerable to this sort of automation -- it will be interesting to see if doctors and lawyers (the last component of the old petit-bourgeoisie now that the middle class is all but gone) naively walk into the abattoir, or if they push for legal protections. The latter has precedent -- in the 1920s, skilled artisans staved off the export of their jobs by unionizing and pushing for legal protections, thus creating a "labour aristocracy" as Marxists of the day put it. Those same Marxists successfully predicted that in time their jobs would be pushed out by globalism for the most part, leaving only a small number of chosen in service of the rich and ultimately losing their privileged status. 

TL;DR: It's too early to tell, but I think a lot of precarious jobs will probably be lost and that the IT labour market for the next decade or two will be stunted until it takes off again.

mrdeworde

If you know how to communicate effectively in real time, I mean in a live audience format. That will be of significant value

Sensitive_Damage_229

Kids get AI to write shitty college papers and think it can take real jobs. AI is mostly unreliable garbage and at best a gimmicky tool.

NacolasCage

It's already affecting me. Every day I'm being asked how I can use more AI and just having to answer it is making me less productive.

ivansotof

Am a software engineer, it already has impacted it.  It \_does\_ help productivity (for many but not all cases) but also you get to deal with stakeholders that don't understand AI trying to put AI in places it doesn't belong lol

repugnantchihuahua

I’ll probably be retired before any meaningful impacts occur. 

Until AI can diagnose, haul a few hundred lbs of equipment, and repair HVAC systems, I’m in the clear.

FreonJunkie96

Ironyismylife28

A bunch over the last year and I’m in construction

Soggy_Panda2393

I'm a nurse so I don't see it really doing anything anytime soon. It is hard to replicate the personable nature of nursing and most aspects of medical care. And I can't really see a robot doing a great job of cleaning a large poop that's spilling out everywhere lol. Funny enough, the technology currently available for my job for things like documentation and analyzing data are really meh.

I do see AI and automation being an assist in the medical world tho. I had an interesting encounter when I had an eye exam done in Japan where the whole exam was automated. The machine would ask questions like which image is clearer and I'd move a joystick left or right. It got pretty close and found some differences. I'd probably still go to an optometrist if I want a more thorough exam tho. I also saw an ad where they have clinics to document your moles or abnormal skin spots and you get the pics retaken 6-12 mos. Any changes are monitored with the software. I'm sure there will be more interesting things coming up that'll impact health care.

seaofgreatnesss

I work in production, automation is more likely to replace me than AI but yeah I suppose there isn't much difference.

Nac_Nak

Working in cyber security it already has. For me it's a 2 sided, threat actors are using it to become more effective and we're using it to be better defensively.

TechFemme

I am doing contract work for a video game start up and in the span of the last six months, we have totally changed our scope of contractor hiring being replaced by a smaller group of people using AI to generate art assets.

Baeshun

I’m truly not sure right now. I’m a nurse, and I don’t think that the hands on care we give can be replaced by AI unless we get well functioning robots. But perhaps some of the paperwork, and vitals info could be uploaded directly from AI integrated machines. It might make nurses jobs easier, but I don’t think it can completely replace us.

Maleficent_Count6205

Yesterday. People who aren’t able to use AI to increase their output are being scrutinized and fired.

Wildyardbarn

AI can't work on construction sites... Yet

thundercat1996

We are pushing AI at our law firm and so far it hasn't been a silver bullet in any aspect. Yes, it helps write emails and create amazing PowerPoint presentations but it hasn't really done anything groundbreaking. We are part of a pilot program with some of the big companies and haven't seen anything big yet. Not saying it won't happen but nothing is on the horizon.

nopartygop

Am a software engineer. It doesn't affect my job security as of yet, but I'm seeing more and more leaders pushing AI down to utilize to create excuses to develop more.

Also starting to see junior engineers using AI for design documents and passing it off as their own work. It would be fine if it's a good design document, but 90% of what it's saying is complete fluff and bullshit design.

purplishdoor

Not a chance an AI can work in heavy industry operations. 
Invested parties really want you to buy into their AI hype.

RottenPingu1

I've been involved with machine learning and its applications since 2007. So, it has had an impact on my career since then. That said, when copilot came out that was a real change for me. It presaged chat-gpt and the reaction the general public had.

AdmirableHorse8301

So we are already doing it.. automating data processing that our teams loath to do. Not only can AI process the various quality documents but it is able to analyze the data and provide us with further insights we need..

It hasn't replaced anybody, but it is enhancing what we can now do with the data that a human just cannot (without spending considerable effort doing so).

We already use OCR tools but this is far better...

However, writing is on the wall for some positions which we think we can automate entirely and move somebody into it who can be the human in the loop. And this is purely on that department consistently underperforming and us being unable to rehire at this point.

Surv0

Geotechnical engineering (mining).

I don't see a near future where it impacts us significantly. It's not useful at all right now for anything beyond making emails cleaner (and even then there somehow isn't really an LLM that can replicate technical writing properly).

Even if it were to start to become an actual productivity booster, the industry is currently in something of a staffing personnel crisis so I don't see current jobs being perfected.

And even beyond that, until we decide to assign massive professional liability to machines, humans aren't going anywhere.

Raging-Fuhry

I previously worked in the film industry as a camera technician.

I’ve heard ai ads are already starting to slow down the advertising industry.

TruestWaffle

I work in building maintenance for local gov AI isn't rebuilding pool pumps, plumbing, or painting so I'm good on that side. I'm already sick of Microsoft's AI crap in Outlook/office

thewinn

Imaginary-Piece-6612

As a city regional truck driver, Never in my lifetime. You would need a robot as good as the Terminator to replace my job.

![gif](giphy|JDKxRN0Bvmm2c)

EfficiencySafe

Never.    I'm a Forestry worker in the field.  Ain't no robot nor any kind of AI will ever be able to the jobs I do out there.

drailCA

In construction directly doing renovations for Homeowners? I don't think ever

Zealousideal_Gap432

I work in health care technology. My company is trying to implement AI for troubleshooting, but some of our systems are still DOS so I’m not worried, I know how to format a floppy disk still lol.

molybdenumb

Shot-Hat1436

Skilled trades are AI safe for now. 

Many knowledge workers will need to re-skill.

juliaschatz

I'm a senior sofware engineer. My whole team uses AI for various tasks. I don't see it replacing our work in the near future but being a software operator and skilled in using AI as the CTO of Microsoft said is what a kot of us will become I think.

_Kinoko

Never , I a small gardening business . Nothing impacts my business it just grows .

Bigchunky_Boy

well since I build stuff out of wood..... not until they design carpenter robots.

CaribooCustom

I have pitched a job way faster with ai. It killed me to filter my ideas through MJ, but I got 200 attempts out over a day, picked through and pitched ideas based on 9 of them. Sold two and adapted and re-worked the concepts to fit a restaurant. Then turned them into 6 massive hand carved wood wall panels. Won the pitch in 3 days. Took 10 weeks to build the walls.

My friend that convinced me to use AI uses a few AIs to pitch for marketing and film every day. What used to take him a team of 3 and a month, he does by himself in two weeks. 

I still don't use it much other than a sounding board. But I believe those who use AI will replace those who don't. I couldn't do my job without a smartphone or laptop on site, not a car to get there. Eventually I'll need ai to keep up with competition.

Phototos

I am an independent VR developer and AI has significantly improved my productivity.

immersive-matthew

You have to augment your skills with AI. Imagine going into an office job 10 years ago and saying you don’t know how to use computers, that’s where AI is now, if you refused to grow and learn what AI has to offer, you’ll be left behind

plotikai

I work in IT and AI is being pushed internally by our company. Based on what I’ve seen, developers are in the most danger right now.

pioniere

I think unions are the future. Employees from every sector should unionize, this will prevent employers from having all the power. 

Let's promote this to all sectors; healthcare admins, tech, education, public sector, contracting.

[deleted]

Ha, AI cannot do what I do. Sure it can make a good work out routine for seniors, but I would love to see it try to motivate them to come to class. Lol, my job is mostly manipulation and tea service.

JediKrys

Learning skills and utilizing skills. I’ve started interviewing for some AI enablement jobs in Ontario (which you’ve mentioned) for some larger companies as a way to hedge my bet. Seems like more of the jobs of the future are in Ontario at the moment as I’ve been applying indiscriminately across Canada

anonymous2593

I worked in UX Design.. it already happened to me!

Thishandisreal

Coding and film are already heavily effected. Have been for a while.

Canucking778

Landscaper... I think I'm safe for a long while.

TravelBug87

AI helped me write the following - full disclosure ..

I’m currently requesting that senior management offload some of my repetitive administrative tasks to AI tools so I can focus more on being present and hands-on at project sites. My strength lies in leading in the field—not in spending hours on computer-based tasks that could easily be automated.

Looking ahead, I believe it’s important to include protections in my next contract to ensure that my role isn’t negatively impacted by the implementation of AI. If for any reason AI were to replace my position, I would expect a guaranteed living salary moving forward. I’d propose $80,000 annually as a baseline compensation in such a scenario.

Educational-Fact-501

Can AI operate a tow truck??? Don’t think so

Scared_Theory2963

Ai is on a s curve. Most jobs have 2 years left

dingdingdong24

Even the "safe" industries are going to start seeing a huge drop in wages as people flock to them after getting dropped from thier industry because of AI. 


No one is going to go unaffected.

it already has, I make boat loads of money installing &amp; repairing data centers

UR2C00L

I'm a teacher. AI helps me do stuff but -- yeah can't really be replaced by it 🤷🏼‍♀️

tiltedoctopus

As a person that's worked hard, yet never got anywhere. I'm happy that everyone will be joining me very soon.

Cautious_Cow4822

I think AI will impact your career no matter what. Every job has management, HR, etc. all things that AI can do. If it can't do your job, i bet it will be your manager.

homiegeet

I made a prediction in 2017 that in 2034 or sooner any physical job should be able to be completed by a humanoid robot with AGI in it.

I think there's still a good chance it's accurate.

nederino

As with anything else AI is a tool so it’s up to us if we leverage this tool or not. If we do, we’re going to be fine.

All this job losses due to automation is fear mongering. If you miss out and don’t use new technology, then yes you may be impacted. If you use new tech, you can benefit.

I’m in IT and I’m going to be better off with AI and already using it at my work.

ElijahSavos

I work in auto repair, so i don’t have to worry about this shit ever 😄

slabba428

This is why they're pouring billions into AI. The problem they're trying to solve is labor.

Squibbles01

If AI is actually successful in removing a large chunk of the workforce, I have a feeling capitalists won't like that outcome either.

PizzaVVitch

They're coming after middle class wages now.

Soon the middle class will feel the same pressure that the poor have felt for decades.  

Hopefully the sheep in the US will wake up.

UnitedLab6476

I don't think people realise quite how devastating AI is going to be.

Everybody thinks their job is somehow immune.

Imakemyownnamereddit

It’ll decrease wages for everyone eventually, when there’s more man power freed up by AI, more people will compete for the remaining jobs.

Early_Magician1412

Fuckers, we're in recession, which means layoffs, even without AI.

AI is a smokescreen, it doesn't do what they claim it does.

altM1st

I'm beginning to think the luddites were right. I don't hate tech, I dislike how it's being used.

bookseer

Has anyone informed the shareholders that the single biggest bang for the buck would be replacing the executive suite with AI ?

tommy_b_777

It’s truly difficult to put into words how screwed children born today are.

thoptergifts

I also worry that ai will just be used for monitor employee's productivity. Basically, they won't replace workers, they will just use ai to make their jobs alot worse.

luostneibma

Interesting study, but the data is from before the current wave of AI- generative AI, ChatGPT etc, so it's hard to be sure of the applicability.

My gut says the current wave could be much worse.

philbearsubstack

It’ll all fall apart when these companies paying the cloud tax realise how much it would cost them to run all this themselves. 

There’s no cost saving year over year, there’s ransom from the AI providers who can bend you over the barrel now that your entire business and knowledge base is stored on some cloud provider who charges you rent.

multidollar

The purpose of AI is to allow wealth to access skill while preventing skill from accessing wealth.


They'll reduce the world to walled cities defended by private armies.

ctruemane

Yeah no shit, businesses run to make a profit, if they can outsource your job to a country with cheaper labour then they'll do it, so of course if ai becomes capable of doing someone's job then you know they'll go with the cheaper option every time, it's just "good" business

crazytib

AI is one of the greatest things to happen in the history for the development of world. Except the capitalism system we currently run will make it one of the worst things for the world if abused. So let's hope we outgrow the system aswell.

Baxlax

Imagine it ends up like that episode of South Park where the handyman is charging stupid prices

apeocalypyic

This is why the billionaires have made thier moves. If ai can do jobs better than humans who needs excess humans? This is thier thinking.

fungusamongus8

Oh no! Robots and computers are doing all the work for us! How will we prove ourselves worthy of existence to the overlords?! FFS, take all your money out of the bank, crash the system. Capitalism is broken, not “functioning as intended”, it’s been manipulated by those in power to their benefit and has made money worthless. Seriously, what’s the value of a meme coin? One step above an NFT.

eyeballburger

We want machine to work so we can relax and do creative job. But now AI work so most people can be laid off and starve.

FriendlyBee94

&gt; How do you think AI will ~~effect~~ affect our future jobs.  

By being annoyingly perfect while missing the point.

Blitzsturm

Provided it's a job that as long as you're confident 100% of the time, you can be correct 60% of the time it should do those jobs just fine.

catballoon

Bill Gates discusses the potential impact of artificial intelligence on job sectors, emphasizing that most positions could be automated, with a call for adaptation.

Impact of AI on Employment

Why This Matters

Public Sentiment Summary

Highlighted Comments

Parties Involved

What the people want