By Lindsay Ash
AI has become one of the new buzz words of our age or I suppose buzz letters if I am being accurate. Before I start, in order to spare the JEP letters from Angry of Green St, I realise that what I am about to write confuses AI with all sorts of other things that it is not but as a layman I see it all as pretty much the same thing, probably better under the word automation.
Those in the AI fold will extol the virtues of this wonderful new world offered up to us especially in the world of business but also in the care profession, medicine and many other fields opening up a wonderful sunlit future for us all. What they don’t do, of course, is detail the dangers this technology brings, which of course they wouldn’t do as they have a sizeable vested interest in it being successful. After all, when you are selling a flash new car you don’t do it by showing the punter a series of photos of what it looks like when involved in a motorway crash at 100mph!
Certain dangers have become all too evident over the last few months in Gaza and Ukraine where technology has enabled drones to do the “dirty work” and cause large-scale devastation. With AI we can only presume this will be expanded on more and more rapidly as countries look to boost their military capabilities.
It’s not just on the battlefield that risks exist but also in the employment market. So what can it do in civilian life that humans can? Have you proof of its amazing powers, Lash? Well, yes, I have tested it for you in my secret laboratory and will share the results…
I told AI my computer was frozen and asked what could I do. This was the answer: “To unfreeze your computer, first wait a few minutes and try Ctrl+Alt+Delete to open Task Manager and close the problematic program. If that fails, perform a hard shutdown by holding the power button for 10-20 seconds, then restart.” In short, a better way of saying turn it off and turn it on again without the, “errr I don’t really know, that shouldn’t happen”. This, of course, could lead to wholesale closures of IT departments.
I make this tongue-in-cheek reference to making people redundant but it has a serious side to it in that if you make human beings superfluous to the process or more importantly less economically viable, then unemployment will arise. I myself was a victim of this in 2000 when the futures market in London (LIFFE ) became computerised meaning the 1,500 people employed in that market wearing brightly coloured jackets shouting and waving hands around were no longer needed. Some ended up trading on screens, some did the Knowledge and became cabbies and one even ended up in Jersey…
Those of you who follow the world news may at this point think to yourself that the Americans still have a trading floor – why is that? It’s a very good point and a very salient one around AI and its effect. The answer is that the American exchanges are owned by the members, who are mostly traders with an interest in the markets remaining as they are – turkeys not voting for yuletide etc, whereas the London one was owned by the big banks eager to boost their own profits.
This, in my view, is where the danger lies. Supermarkets are already introducing more and more automated check-outs, banks have fewer and fewer tellers and provide AI customer service representatives or bots when you ring up. This situation will become more and more prevalent as A takes hold.
The good news, of course, with this is the consumer will be better off with cheaper supermarket prices, banks will offer better rates and cheaper mortgages…right, hopefully you’ve picked yourself up off the floor laughing at that little gem and we can all safely agree that not only am I hilarious but that the large corporations will use AI to make more and more money. They have few qualms about putting people out of work and place profits well ahead of the desires of the customer.
This is where those in certain professions, such as lawyers and GPs, may be able to hold back the forces of progress as it’s not in their interests and they still hold the cards – but for how long? After all, much of what lawyers do now could be automated.
If this all seems a bit gloomy it’s because I think it’s important to look at the downside of all this as well as seeing the flash new motor we are being sold.
So where’s the next move from Jersey’s point of view? Well, unless the major nations of the world get round the table and limit the use of AI (yup, another top joke – I am on fire today!) then Jersey needs to not only embrace it but become one of the industry leaders, mainly by having its own stake in it and making the Island profitable as a business even if it’s only in providing a regulatory service and becoming experts in detecting abuse. I am not sure quite how it can be done but it’s surely not beyond some of the expertise we have here to approach Oxford, Cambridge, Imperial College, Durham or the like to partner up as a centre of AI excellence both educationally and research wise. We have surplus office space for a start-up and then could use the Hospital as a permanent base when it becomes vacant in 2026. I’ll just ask AI for its view:
“No, Jersey Hospital is not scheduled to become vacant in 2026. Initial plans aimed for a new hospital to open by the end of 2026, but the project timeline has since been significantly delayed.” Oh dear! Thank goodness for AI…
Hopefully, I have provided a few points for you to muse over though.
My next article is on Al Jolson, perhaps we could bring him back in an ABBA-style hologram… AI Jolson, perhaps!
Lindsay Ash was Deputy for St Clement between 2018 and 2022, serving as Assistant Treasury and Home Affairs Minister under Chief Minister John Le Fondré. He worked in the City of London for 15 years as a futures broker before moving to Jersey and working in the Island’s finance industry from 2000. Feedback welcome on Twitter @Getonthelash2.
