\u201cWe are playing into the topical, \u2018How does AI change hiring and jobs?\u201d said CEO Daniel Lee, who started Nooks with fellow Stanford University students during the pandemic. The company sells software that automates parts of a salesperson\u2019s job \u2014 like researching clients or following up on emails.<\/p>\n
\u201cSales is human, and sales reps will continue selling in the future,\u201d Lee said, and compared sales to a game of chess. \u201cWe\u2019re playing the game alongside you, helping you think a lot less about manually making the moves and a lot more about the strategy and solving customer problems.\u201d<\/p>\n
Linear, a San Francisco-based company, took one of the most recognizable images in Western civilization \u2014 Michelangelo\u2019s The Creation of Adam<\/em> \u2014 and instead of God reaching towards Adam, God\u2019s hand now approaches a cluster of tiny cursor hands. Below, a message reads, \u201cAgents. At your command.\u201d<\/p>\n The company wanted to stay away from any message that suggested AI is replacing humans, COO Cristina Cordova said. Linear produces software for engineers and designers to work together on projects, and includes \u201cagents\u201d \u2014 virtual workers that do a lot of the coding themselves.<\/p>\n The billboards \u2014 like Linear\u2019s product \u2014 are not meant for everyone, Cordova said. But she\u2019s optimistic about a future where more people can build their own software when AI can deal with complex code.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to position human beings as the source of intent, the decision makers, the ones who have taste and judgment,\u201d Cordova said. Echoing her company\u2019s Sistine Chapel-coded billboards, she said. \u201cThe human role is almost divine.\u201d<\/p>\n At a recent industry conference in New Delhi, OpenAI and ChatGPT chief Sam Altman told the press<\/a> that automation has eliminated jobs multiple times in history. But it\u2019s also created entirely new industries, he said. \u201cWe always find new things to do, and I have no doubt we will find lots of better ones this time.\u201d<\/p>\n But there\u2019s no guarantee that humans whose jobs are automated will actually find a new livelihood, said UC Los Angeles professor Ramesh Srinivasan, who studies the connections between technology and democracy.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere are the jobs and what are they going to look like?\u201d he said. Without a clear picture of how humans will add value to the work AI takes up, he said. \u201cWhat\u2019s on the chopping block is the social contract where people are compensated for their labor.\u201d<\/p>\n Srinivasan said the gig economy \u2014 rideshare apps like Uber and Lyft, for example \u2014 show how, without enough government oversight, tech innovations that promised to give workers more freedom actually create more precarious conditions.<\/p>\n During California\u2019s 2020 election, Uber and other gig companies spent more than $200 million<\/a> backing Proposition 22, a ballot measure allowing them to classify drivers as independent contractors rather than employees \u2014 exempting them from state labor protections such as minimum wage, overtime pay, and workers\u2019 compensation. While backers of Proposition 22 promised the initiative would guarantee minimum earnings, many ride-hail drivers say their real wages have slipped<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWho regulates AI workers?<\/h2>\n
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