Will AI take away human jobs? Various predictions have been made regarding this question. A US paper revealed that the number of jobs for young people will decrease in occupations that are automated by AI. A closer look at this decrease in young employees reveals an interesting trend: AI raises a 60-point person to an 85-point person, but it doesn’t significantly affect someone who is already at 85 points. Specifically, experienced veterans with skills maintain their high level of productivity even after the introduction of AI. However, a 60-point newcomer can quickly reach the 85-point level of a veteran by introducing AI. In a study that introduced AI to a call center, there was no change in the productivity of skilled workers. While there was no change in the productivity of skilled workers, the results showed that beginners saw a significant improvement. This is becoming clear in other fields as well.
Tools for solving work and language challenges are emerging. These are generative AIs. ChatGPT is symbolic, but large language models have the ability to realize unprecedented interactive communication with humans. With the advent of these language models, it has become possible to collect information through conversations with AI. When a question is asked, the generative AI continues to learn (work) 24 hours a day without rest, seeking the answer. AI doesn’t get tired. To obtain output from this language model generative AI, an appropriate “prompt” is provided. This instruction text entered by a human is called a “prompt.” Even when requesting the same answer, the output will be completely different simply by modifying the prompt. For example, current image generation AI generates images as instructed when given instructions such as “I want you to generate an image like this.” If you include terms like “Van Gogh or Sharaku” in the prompt, the output will be more detailed.
In Japan, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology created guidelines in July 2023 regarding how to handle generative AI in elementary, junior high, and high schools. On the other hand, the actual usage situation is progressing. According to the “Elementary School Students’ White Paper 2023,” 9.8% of elementary school students had used generative AI at school. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology has designated 66 pilot schools in fiscal year 2024 to conduct advanced initiatives on how to handle generative AI. They are recommending that schools utilize it only after they are prepared to address the risks. Initiatives to safely use generative AI are beginning in Japanese schools as well. If prompts are skillfully presented, generative AI can continuously learn and provide the desired information without interruption. There is a growing demand for young people who can creatively design prompts and effectively extract new information from generative AI.
