r/accelerate • u/cloudrunner6969 • 8d ago

Founder of Google's Generative AI Team Says Don't Even Bother Getting a Law or Medical Degree, Because AI's Going to Destroy Both Those Careers Before You Can Even Graduate

https://futurism.com/former-google-ai-exec-law-medicine
50 Upvotes

85% Upvoted

36 comments sorted by

26

u/sassydodo Feeling the AGI 8d ago

If medical or law degrees were useless for earning a living, that would suggest most jobs wouldn’t pay either, which would make money as a concept obsolete. In that case, choose whatever degree you want and focus on your personal growth

3

u/Zer0D0wn83 8d ago

Or don't do a degree and focus on your personal growth. University isn't the best way to get an education 

5

u/UnusualParadise 8d ago

It's a very good way to meet people interested in the same subjects you are, that are near you, that know local resources and have local networks of people, that might want to participate in same activities as you, etc.

That's personal growth too. And community growth, which is very important and often overlooked.

4

u/Zer0D0wn83 8d ago

And massive, crippling, lifelong debt.

You can EASILY do all of those things without university 

5

u/UnusualParadise 8d ago edited 8d ago

crippling,lifelong debt? Maybe in USA bro.

But not in a country with public education where 1 year tuition isn't more than $2000 AT MOST and, if you are good, you get this tuition paid by the country AND an extra bonud of cash so you don't have to work and can keep getting good grades.

0

u/Zer0D0wn83 7d ago

It costs a lot more than 2000 in many, many countries. In the UK over 40k, for example. 

Also, I don't see why the taxpayer should fund university places outside of medicine, engineering etc.

0

u/Pyros-SD-Models ML Engineer 6d ago

How can one be a technology accelerationist but a society decel? I swear, you guys are even worse than Luddites. At least Luddites just ignore technology, you are actively killing the potential it delivers.

What do you think education will cost with GPT-10 as everyone’s professor, and just some guy making sure students hit learning checkpoints? Zero.

But that doesn’t matter to your kind, you’re too busy thinking about how to deconstruct society with this newfound power. Fucking cancer.

1

u/Zer0D0wn83 6d ago

What the fuck are you even talking about? You know nothing about me, other than I think university is a waste of time and money.

If you think you're smart enough to extrapolate my entire world view from that, then you've proven my point on benefits (or lack thereof) of a university education.

Seems like there are many here who seem to think that higher education is deeply intertwined with societal progression (odd, considering they have been around for thousands of years) whereas I think they are a relic, unfit for purpose, horrendously expensive and a waste of some of the best years of your life.

That's not me wanting to 'break society down', that's me thinking university needs massive reform.

Not the same thing.

Edit: just re-read. Your 'kind' seem to think that the education system = education, and you're so fucking wrong.

Education is pretty much the most important thing a person can pursue.

The education system is a poor way to get education 

0

u/UnusualParadise 7d ago edited 7d ago

Man, if you live in a dystopia, or you personally prefer dystopias, that's not my fault.

Also, education should be free. Specially as work needs go down, in developed societies. Ignorance creates all sorts of problems in society. Ignorance is one of the worst enemies of any advanced civilization.

Some people just don't want to study STEM, it would be torture for them or they might not be good at it. Ok, Let them learn history, or philosophy, or anthropology, or literature, or art. These things still give a very deep scope on reality and open the mind. It also trains the brain nonetheless.

Better to have educated citizens than to have a population that lacks the scope that culture gives.

3

u/Zer0D0wn83 7d ago

Saying that the US and UK are dystopias is just fucking mental. Seriously - where do you live that's so much better?

Also, it's not free. Other people pay for it. 

1

u/UnusualParadise 7d ago edited 7d ago

Germany, Norway, Austria, France... chose one.

A country where you have to pay $3000 for an ambulance and go broke just because you caught some disease doesn't look very utopian to me.

And UK struggling: NHS is collapsing, people can't afford living in their own capital, and it's slowly turning orwellian.

And if education is free for the student, then it's an investment, not a liability. Society pays to get better educated citizenship. Overall it's not a big cost in a developed country's budget, and it pays very nicely in the long run. Not to talk about how it fosters innovation and progress. It's a damn investment.

Bruh, get a grip on reality.

Also, you're in r/accelerate , Support for better and cheaper education should be a given in this place.

0

u/Zer0D0wn83 7d ago

All of those countries.have massive problems - they aren't some world leading utopias. 

I honestly can't be bothered to address all your (non) points, but the your last comment was interesting, because of course I support better and cheaper education. Better as in university is not the best way to get an education, and cheaper as in open source, alternative learning that doesn't cost the student or the tax payer 10s of thousands of dollars

1

u/sassydodo Feeling the AGI 7d ago

it's a good way to learn things systematically, as well as a way to learn discipline, and practice soft skills

1

u/jlks1959 5d ago

Well, it was for me. 

-3

u/Helpful_Program_5473 8d ago

Not really, medical and law is pure knowledge. No real skill involved.

Gen AI already matches all but the best doctors

23

u/Euphoric_Exchange_51 8d ago

This is so fuckin ignorant lmao

2

u/Helpful_Program_5473 8d ago

im audhd and medical is my special interest. ive talked to hundreds if not thousands of doctors.

an ai can match and exceed any of them pretty easily, half hsd never heard of my conditions (their field)

​​ I have probably 5,000 hours research in my medical conditions and AI can match with a good prompt and the right tools in about an hour

4

u/OkExcitement5444 7d ago

Half had not heard of autism or ADHD? Wut

1

u/met0xff 7d ago

While it's true that they're often just following the same algorithms all the time, there's a lot of hands-on work. Of course they could also stick you into a machine to do a Lasègue test :), or stick that probe into your nose, throat or colon yourself, have a robot inject that PRT, do the bone marrow extraction etc.

Automatic screening and treatment would have to improve massively

0

u/EmergencyParkingOnly 7d ago

Law is much less about knowing and much more about reasoning.

And legal research AIs still suck.

1

u/stealthispost Acceleration Advocate 7d ago

being a lawyer is

being a paralegal... not so much, right?

0

u/EmergencyParkingOnly 7d ago

Depends on the specific firm. Lots of paralegals do legal research that AIs still struggle with.

-2

u/Lint_baby_uvulla 7d ago

Who else is salivating for the AI slop remakes of House.

Clanker Cuddy - “Oh Gregory, you’re all thumbs”

-2

u/Darigaaz4 8d ago

There’s no personal growth without money; while that’s true, pick something that keeps you afloat.

3

u/Split-Awkward 7d ago

I do not agree with this premise.

6

u/luchadore_lunchables Feeling the AGI 8d ago

The age of ubiquitous access to best-in-class legal and medical expertise is nigh upon us!

2

u/rileyoneill 7d ago

Yes. Its a best case scenario for everyone else. I happen to be in the everyone else category.

3

u/Terrible-Priority-21 7d ago

Please I beg you people not to repost futurism, have some class. We're not r/singularity yet.

2

u/Minecraftman6969420 Singularity by 2035 8d ago edited 8d ago

I think the most realistic outcome for social implementation is that AGI happens, a bunch of people are too stubborn or fearful to utilize it right away, however for those that do use it, both companies and individuals, they will likely make massive strides in any given field, making new major discoveries and automating more complex systems and jobs. This adoption will likely increase slowly at first but a lot of people will likely change their tune once they see the benefits, with adoption of the tech skyrocketing globally 

The thing I see taking longest is not acceptance but actual physical implementation. Medicine and Genetics breakthroughs that 100% work may still have to go through long testing and trial periods initially. Manufacturing, Construction, and Infrastructure Changes will take time (albeit less than with humans) even if fully automated at least until the framework is made.

There’s also the question of the AGI itself, specifically how fast it improves once off the ground, and how long until it becomes ASI? it’s a matter of when not if at that point, but the initial advancements may still take some time in the beginning. 

Best analogy is a space shuttle taking off, a lot of time and preparation but once it’s taken off it speeds up dramatically, and it’s the same with these jobs, a few law firms and medical groups will utilize the tech and quickly overtake the ones that don’t. Eventually all jobs get replaced but that’s the goal.

3

u/astrobuck9 8d ago

I've been thinking recently that human jobs might stick around in some shape or form for awhile.

If we hit LEV sometime in the next 10 years, I'm not sure Boomers and any remaining Silent Gens are going to be as open to robo docs as younger generations.

There might be a need for a human facing doctor to interact with people for a bit.

1

u/Chronotheos 8d ago

I think there’s enough demand for medical care that doctors will generally just be able to treat more people rather than get laid off. Medicaid cuts from the OBBB are harming medical employment much more than AI.

1

u/porcelainfog Singularity by 2040 7d ago

We're going to become migrant workers building logistics networks (like bullet trains and high ways for self driving cars) and space elevators akin to stone masons building cathedrals in the 1000s.

Fusion powered, self driving semis bringing the cost of transporting to near 0. I want to make that future a reality.

1

u/mrtoomba 7d ago

Many tasks can be automated, but the simple fact is there are few if any legal guidelines concerning this nascent tech. The dearth of statute and case law makes this prognosis questionable. The erratic and changeable performance of many llms is working its way through the courts in many countries as we speak. Quite a large percentage of jobs will be lost, but no way legislators ( eventually ) will hand all their power over to automated systems imo.

1

u/Pazzeh 8d ago

I agree with the main point that tech will be that good that fast, but I just think that's missing a lot of the human element. And I want shit to get automated quick. I just dont think it's a guaranteed thing, even when it's super easy to do. Like yes at some point it'll be forced but I just think it'll take longer than it "should"

-1

u/Minute-Flan13 7d ago

Fix the hallucination problem first. Then talk. Dumbest headline I've read in a while.