State
and Federal governments have a lot of bureaucratic positions that
probably will be downsized in the near future (3-10 years) with the
increasing ability of artificial intelligence programs to perform
bureaucratic functions. As the appearance of comp0uters replaced so
many typing and secretarial jobs,l bureaucrats processing data in one
form or another will be replaced by hyper-efficient artificial
intelligence programs in robot-bodies. One AI system could probably
replace a dozen humans.
That
isn't necessarily a bad thing. Consider human thought and how it
works in a bureaucratic job performing regulatory tasks. It evaluates
data and sorts it according to content. It stores data or adds value
to it. Ideas pass through a mind in recognition of data requirements
for process. All of that an A.I. program can probably do quite a bit
better.
If
one went into a government office with a piece of business to
transact, an A.I. system that looks human could scan data with eyes
and ears, process it and send it through an entire process as quickly
as the human provides the data-business. The receptionist would be
the typist, file clerk, supervisor and adjudicator all in one in
addition to sending material to archives. The government would have
no hourly wage to pay the AI robot, neither would it pay for employee
health benefits, vacation pay or retirement. At some level of
government a human might look at appeals or become involved if, as in
the case with some automated phone systems, the categories don't fit
a human situation accurately.
Consider
the way automated phone systems often work with a hundred branching
questions for a user to sort through before discovering that there
isn't a correct option to select, or that after exhausting options
one must wait on hold. An AI system could just say hi how can I help,
understand every human language and understand human speech and
queries.
There
is a danger with making AI too smart. Maybe the IQ should be limited
to 110. They are specialized rather than general intellects unlike
humans. They can reduce the operating cost of government orders of
magnitude, and that is good for people paying for government.
Probably there should be a national guaranteed minimum income so
people don't need to work as public employees any way. Yet maybe
public radio will include Rush Limbaugh for some of their programming
to get a different opinion than Democrat and homosexual.
