Have you given this enough thought?

 

Do we know enough to do what we are doing?

Do you remember as a child hearing one of your parents saying to you "Do you think you have really
given this enough thought?"  Whether it was something simple, like spending your Birthday money on something questionable or declining a summer job offer to loaf by the pool, most of us remember parents or a good friend gently keeping us from a poor judgement by suggesting that it might deserve a second thought.

The generation in which I grew up moved more slowly, with more time to reflect and consider.  Younger people have grown up in a faster world, where answers are closer at hand.  Why look something up in the dictionary when the answer is right on your phone.  Why use a Thesaurus to find the best word for what you want to say when being precise isn't all that important.

Why reflect on future consequences when the things AI can do are amazing.  As Bill Gates states it, AI is like a "copilot, that handles administrative tasks, freeing humans from chores and giving more time for creative, human-centric parts of more important jobs."

Gates's reasoning may be significant to an executive, but what are the impacts on most people?  Should we have slowed down for a while before rushing headfirst, with little or no consideration of consequences like job displacement, bias and discrimination, privacy concerns, the ability to collect vast amounts of personal data, and taken time to establish ethical guidelines and legal frameworks.

In addition, what about the theft of information fed into the education of AI which not only used that information without compensation, but also subsequently displaced many of the people from whom they took the information.  For example, copy right laws forbid the theft of authors' work, but unknown numbers of books, ancient and modern, were fed into educating AI without compensation. Authors, Artists, and who knows what else, trained AI without compensation, and displaced the people from whom they stole. 

So, here we are, and one might ask, "Have you given this enough thought?'  In 2026 young college graduates found it to be the worst college hiring in two decades.  On the other side, the demand for large scale data centers is creating a boom for construction workers of all types.  As one man commented, "This is something that we've never seen before.  It's akin to the industrial revolution."

Trade workers are busy as electricians, pipe fitters, and other workers build the structures housing AI requirements, working 5 days a week to keep up, college graduates can't find jobs.  Some would say that is just the way the world has always advanced, it is the first time humans have competed with AI.  Construction works are benefiting now, but how long will they be needed, and will those workers with pensions and health insurance experience changes similar to the displaced office workers once the AI workers boom ends.  Will there be enough need for a permanent workforce to maintain the buildings once they have all been built.  

It is true that history tells us that as one generation creates a different world, new jobs evolve. However, humans have never competed with AI before.  History also tells us that there may be suffering in the interim.   I have seen many changes in my life, some mistakes, some imperfect, and some wonderful.  I believe this is different.  I understand that America was not the only nation exploring AI, and humans have always rushed forward, with inadequate concern for the consequences.  It seems to me that perhaps now more than ever, America, and the rest of the world, need wise leadership.  Perhaps now more than ever we need to ask that old question:  Have you really given this enough thought?