#AI job application tools

[imrovementcompany]

Supercharge Your Manufacturing Job Search with AI and ChatGPT

With my extensive experience as an HR consultant in the manufacturing industry, I have witnessed the evolution of the job market over the years. However, nothing has been as transformative as AI. The combination of AI with the advanced language model, ChatGPT, has the potential to revolutionize the entire job-hunting process. AI is making job searching more efficient and less time-consuming for…

[thedisablednaturalist]

Unfortunately all chatgpt is good for is interview/job application stuff which I think says a lot about the hiring process as a whole

[simplifyworkforce]

Maximizing Workforce Efficiency: How VMS Platforms Empower Direct Sourcing 

One of the most significant developments in this space is the rise of Vendor Management Systems (VMS), which enable organizations to streamline the management of their contingent workforce. Paired with the growing trend of Direct Sourcing, VMS platforms are revolutionizing how businesses acquire and manage talent. 

Understanding Vendor Management Systems (VMS) 

A VMS platform is a software solution designed to manage all aspects of an organization’s contingent workforce, from vendor relationships to temporary staff hiring, performance tracking, and payment. It allows companies to centralize and automate processes that were traditionally handled manually or through various disparate systems. The benefits of a VMS platform include better visibility, improved cost control, enhanced compliance, and faster onboarding for contract workers. 

The core function of a VMS is to manage third-party staffing vendors, but its utility has expanded as workforce management becomes more sophisticated. A modern VMS platform now also supports Direct Source strategies, enabling companies to build their own talent pools and reduce dependence on external staffing agencies. 

Direct Sourcing: A Growing Trend 

Direct Sourcing refers to the practice of directly hiring contingent workers from a company’s existing network or talent pool, rather than through external staffing vendors. This approach allows businesses to tap into a pre-vetted group of freelancers, contractors, and temporary workers without incurring the additional costs and markups associated with staffing agencies. 

The benefits of Direct Sourcing are clear: 

Cost Savings: By cutting out the middleman, companies can save on recruitment fees and vendor markups. 

Faster Hiring: Companies with established talent pools can quickly access qualified candidates, reducing the time-to-hire. 

Better Quality Control: Organizations have more control over the recruitment process and can ensure that they are hiring workers who align with their specific needs and culture. 

How a VMS Platform Enhances Direct Sourcing 

While Direct Sourcing provides significant advantages, it requires a strategic and organized approach to managing talent. This is where VMS platforms come in. By integrating Direct Sourcing capabilities into their VMS, companies can optimize the recruitment and management of contingent workers. Here’s how: 

Building and Managing Talent Pools: VMS platforms allow companies to create and maintain internal talent pools, consisting of previous contractors, freelancers, and referrals. These workers are often already familiar with the company’s processes and culture, making them ideal candidates for future projects.

Seamless Integration with Workforce Management: A modern VMS platform integrates with HR, procurement, and finance systems, creating a seamless experience for hiring and managing contingent workers.

Automated Workflows: A key advantage of a VMS platform is the automation of recruitment workflows.

Compliance and Risk Management: Hiring contingent workers, particularly across multiple jurisdictions, introduces a range of legal and compliance risks.

Data-Driven Decision Making: VMS platforms provide real-time analytics and reporting, giving companies valuable insights into their contingent workforce.

The Future of VMS and Direct Sourcing 

As the contingent workforce continues to grow, the combination of Vendor Management System platforms and Direct Sourcing will become even more integral to workforce management strategies. Emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will further enhance VMS capabilities, enabling predictive workforce planning, talent matching, and real-time decision-making. 

Conclusion 

The integration of VMS platforms and Direct Sourcing is transforming how businesses manage their contingent workforce. By centralizing and automating key processes, VMS platforms empower organizations to take control of their talent acquisition strategies, reducing costs, improving efficiency, and ensuring compliance. As Direct Sourcing continues to gain popularity, businesses that effectively leverage their VMS will be well-positioned to stay competitive and responsive to changing market demands. The future of workforce management is one where agility and efficiency go hand in hand, and VMS platforms are at the heart of this transformation. 

[REVEALED]: 7 Questions You Must Ask In 2024 Before Investing in a VMS  

Top 6 Reasons Why You Should Absolutely Invest in a VMS  

What is the Importance of Credentialing in Healthcare? 

[prores01]

Unlocking Success: Optimizing Your Resume for Job Applications

In today's competitive job market, having a standout resume is crucial for catching the attention of potential employers. With countless applications flooding in for every open position, how can you ensure that your resume stands out from the crowd? The answer lies in resume customization tools and techniques that can help you optimize your resume for each job application.

One of the first steps in resume enhancement is to tailor your resume to each specific job you apply for. Generic resumes often get lost in the shuffle, but by customizing your resume to highlight the skills and experiences most relevant to the position, you can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview. This means carefully reviewing the job description and optimizing your resume to align with the qualifications and requirements outlined by the employer.

Another important aspect of job application optimization is the use of keywords. Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen resumes, and these systems rely heavily on keywords to identify qualified candidates. By incorporating relevant keywords into your resume, you can increase the likelihood that it will make it past the initial screening process. Tools like AI CV generators can help you identify the most important keywords for your industry and incorporate them seamlessly into your resume.

In addition to customizing your resume for each job application, it's also important to pay attention to the format and layout. A clean, well-organized resume is much easier for recruiters to read and makes a better impression than one that is cluttered or difficult to navigate. Use clear headings and bullet points to highlight key information, and make sure to proofread carefully for any errors or typos.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of a strong resume summary or objective statement. This brief introduction at the top of your resume is your chance to make a memorable first impression and quickly communicate your qualifications and career goals. Use this section to highlight your most impressive achievements and explain why you are the perfect fit for the job.

In conclusion, optimizing your resume for job applications is essential for standing out in today's competitive job market. By using resume customization tools and techniques to tailor your resume to each job, incorporating relevant keywords, paying attention to format and layout, and crafting a compelling summary, you can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview and ultimately securing your dream job.

[fwoosheye]

Yeah this is one of the reasons machine learning sucks. Not only will bias (accidental or intentional) from programmers peek through (that's why a lot of the automatic soap dispensers struggle with darker skin tones), since the "AI" machine learning it scraps all sorts of stuff from all over the web that will be reflected in what it generates. And on top of that machine learning is based on patterns, and thus will exclude outliers and amplify biases – which in turn will cause it to have a strong tendency to remove diverse elements or worse, "confirm" racist or other bigotry. As in the example above the "AI", a glorified pattern recognition machine, kept giving black people lower scores consistently. That is not a proof of black people being worse at their jobs, that's a proof of a biased programming. And you can bet that "applications review AI" will be biased in the exact same ways because it's trained in the same biased bs data, there is no way they carefully hands-collected or crafted data to make it as diverse an unbiased as possible. And you can probably also bet that if you check that little box your application will be instantly trashed. At least that person in the notes who said the AI probably wasn't smart enough to see through the "buzzwords in white and 5pt" trick might be onto something though. If they're gonna cheat the system then maybe we should do it back too

Dystopian button my friend saw during a job application

[lightyaoigami]

☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ how to resume ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ

after 10 years & 6 jobs in corporate america, i would like to share how to game the system. we all want the biggest payoff for the least amount of work, right?

know thine enemy: beating the robots

i see a lot of misinformation about how AI is used to scrape resumes. i can't speak for every company but most corporations use what is called applicant tracking software (ATS).

no respectable company is using chatgpt to sort applications. i don't know how you'd even write the prompt to get a consumer-facing product to do this. i guarantee that target, walmart, bank of america, whatever, they are all using B2B SaaS enterprise solutions. there is not one hiring manager plinking away at at a large language model.

ATS scans your resume in comparison to the job posting, parses which resumes contain key words, and presents the recruiter and/or hiring manager with resumes with a high "score." the goal of writing your resume is to get your "score" as high as possible.

but tumblr user lightyaoigami, how do i beat the robots?

great question, y/n. you will want to seek out an ATS resume checker. i have personally found success with jobscan, which is not free, but works extremely well. there is a free trial period, and other ATS scanners are in fact free. some of these tools are so sophisticated that they can actually help build your resume from scratch with your input. i wrote my own resume and used jobscan to compare it to the applications i was finishing.

do not use chatgpt to write your resume or cover letter. it is painfully obvious. here is a tutorial on how to use jobscan. for the zillionth time i do not work for jobscan nor am i a #jobscanpartner i am just a person who used this tool to land a job at a challenging time.

the resume checkers will tell you what words and/or phrases you need to shoehorn into your bullet points - i.e., if you are applying for a job that requires you to be a strong collaborator, the resume checker might suggest you include the phrase "cross-functional teams." you can easily re-word your bullets to include this with a little noodling.

don't i need a cover letter?

it depends on the job. after you have about 5 years of experience, i would say that they are largely unnecessary. while i was laid off, i applied to about 100 jobs in a three-month period (#blessed to have been hired quickly). i did not submit a cover letter for any of them, and i had a solid rate of phone screens/interviews after submission despite not having a cover letter. if you are absolutely required to write one, do not have chatgpt do it for you. use a guide from a human being who knows what they are talking about, like ask a manager or betterup.

but i don't even know where to start!

i know it's hard, but you have to have a bit of entrepreneurial spirit here. google duckduckgo is your friend. don't pull any bean soup what-about-me-isms. if you truly don't know where to start, look for an ATS-optimized resume template.

a word about neurodivergence and job applications

i, like many of you, am autistic. i am intimately familiar with how painful it is to expend limited energy on this demoralizing task only to have your "reward" be an equally, if not more so, demoralizing work experience. i don't have a lot of advice for this beyond craft your worksona like you're making a d&d character (or a fursona or a sim or an OC or whatever made up blorbo generator you personally enjoy).

and, remember, while a lot of office work is really uncomfortable and involves stuff like "talking in meetings" and "answering the phone," these things are not an inherent risk. discomfort is not tantamount to danger, and we all have to do uncomfortable things in order to thrive. there are a lot of ways to do this and there is no one-size-fits-all answer. not everyone can mask for extended periods, so be your own judge of what you can or can't do.

i like to think of work as a drag show where i perform this other personality in exchange for money. it is much easier to do this than to fight tooth and nail to be unmasked at work, which can be a risk to your livelihood and peace of mind. i don't think it's a good thing that we have to mask at work, but it's an important survival skill.

⋆｡ﾟ☁︎｡⋆｡ ﾟ☾ ﾟ｡⋆ good luck ⋆｡ﾟ☾｡⋆｡ ﾟ☁︎ ﾟ｡⋆

[sexhaver]

are you a fan/supporter of AI-generated art, and if so, why? i've frankly never understood why people like it and i'm trying to wrap my head around it. thanks :)

asking if im a "fan" of AI art is like asking if im a "fan" of Photoshop. it's a tool that has the potential to be used for shitty things (i.e. photoshopping pictures of someone to make them look bad, or training an AI model specifically on one artist and then undercutting that artist on commissions), but it's also a really fucking powerful tool that has the potential to push art in directions it could never feasibly go before. like, how do you read "people without an artistic bone in their body will be able to spin up dozens of pictures of whatever arbitrary thing they want" and jump straight to the ethics of sourcing the datasets and "robbing artists" and supporting draconian IP law without even admitting that, at a base level, that's a really cool and useful piece of technology to have.

part of the reason i keep posting about it is because i work in warehouse automation. ive spent the last decade learning how to automate shitty tasks that nobody in their right mind would want to do for free, and people STILL get upset that robotics are inherently "stealing their jobs". this is literally only a problem because of capitalism; in any sane world, a machine that can do shitty jobs would be a godsend. but when you need to work for a living, these robots become competition instead of tools to make your life better. and yet people will still direct their outrage at the robots themselves and not their bosses or capitalism as a whole

the same thing is happening with AI art. without capitalism forcing artists to draw for survival, the ability for non-artists to create art at a whim would be a tool with a wide range of applications. under capitalism, however, these tools become competition. and yet again, people are directing their rage at the people making this good-in-a-vacuum technology instead of capitalism, or even more specifically, the miniscule percentage of AI artists who use the tech to financially harm artists by undercutting them on commissions.

of course, there's the added twist that, unlike stacking heavy cardboard boxes, art is something that a lot of people actually do enjoy intrinsically and would do for free. this has spawned an entirely separate branch of arguments against AI art based on ethics and philosophy instead of laws and finance. this branch argues that AI art is not just bad because it can directly financially harm artists who don't use it, but that it's actively eroding the concept of "art" itself. this is the branch that spawns soundbites like "AI art just copies from humans", "that's not art because it's soulless", and "what's even the point in making art when a robot can do it faster and better?"

i'm going to be blunt: this branch, just like any other train of thought that hinges on an unspecified definition of "true art" that ebbs and flows at the speaker's whim, is complete horseshit at best and outright reactionary at worst. unfortunately, it has also infected most of the anti-AI-art crowd to the point where it's almost impossible to find any arguments against AI art that don't eventually fall back on it

tl;dr: AI art is a powerful tool with the potential to benefit humanity at large, and desperately trying to stuff that genie back into the bottle [by donating to Disney's IP lawyers] because it scares you is not going to work

[probablyasocialecologist]

Once the AI bubble bursts, that doesn’t mean chatbots and image generators will be relegated to the trash bin of history. Rather, there will be a reassessment of where it makes sense to implement them, and if attention moves on too fast, they may be able to do that with minimal pushback. The challenge visual artists and video game workers are already finding with employers making use of generative AI to worsen the labor conditions in their industries may become entrenched, especially if artists fail in their lawsuits against AI companies for training on their work without permission. But it could be far worse than that. Microsoft is already partnering with Palantir to feed generative AI into militaries and intelligence agencies, while governments around the world are looking at how they can implement generative AI to reduce the cost of service delivery, often without effective consideration of the potential harms that can come of relying on tools that are well known to output false information. This is a problem Resisting AI author Dan McQuillan has pointed to as a key reason why we must push back against these technologies. There are already countless examples of algorithmic systems have been used to harm welfare recipients, childcare benefit applicants, immigrants, and other vulnerable groups. We risk a repetition, if not an intensification, of those harmful outcomes. When the AI bubble bursts, investors will lose money, companies will close, and workers will lose jobs. Those developments will be splashed across the front pages of major media organizations and will receive countless hours of public discussion. But it’s those lasting harms that will be harder to immediately recognize, and that could fade as the focus moves on to whatever Silicon Valley places starts pushing as the foundation of its next investment cycle. All the benefits Altman and his fellow AI boosters promised will fade, just as did the promises of the gig economy, the metaverse, the crypto industry, and countless others. But the harmful uses of the technology will stick around, unless concerted action is taken to stop those use cases from lingering long after the bubble bursts.

16 August 2024

[iww-gnv]

As firms increasingly rely on artificial intelligence-driven hiring platforms, many highly qualified candidates are finding themselves on the cutting room floor. Body-language analysis. Vocal assessments. Gamified tests. CV scanners. These are some of the tools companies use to screen candidates with artificial intelligence recruiting software. Job applicants face these machine prompts – and AI decides whether they are a good match or fall short. Businesses are increasingly relying on them. A late-2023 IBM survey of more than 8,500 global IT professionals showed 42% of companies were using AI screening "to improve recruiting and human resources". Another 40% of respondents were considering integrating the technology. Many leaders across the corporate world hoped AI recruiting tech would end biases in the hiring process. Yet in some cases, the opposite is happening. Some experts say these tools are inaccurately screening some of the most qualified job applicants – and concerns are growing the software may be excising the best candidates. "We haven't seen a whole lot of evidence that there's no bias here… or that the tool picks out the most qualified candidates," says Hilke Schellmann, US-based author of the Algorithm: How AI Can Hijack Your Career and Steal Your Future, and an assistant professor of journalism at New York University. She believes the biggest risk such software poses to jobs is not machines taking workers' positions, as is often feared – but rather preventing them from getting a role at all.

[oliviamaitlandauthor]

Comprehensive List of Tips for Self-Publishing Authors

Cover Design

"Never judge a book by its cover" is a philosophy very rarely followed by most readers, so it's important to make sure your cover is as eye-catching, aesthetically pleasing, and true to your story as possible. The cover should encompass what your story is about and it should give the reader a glimpse into the world you've spent years creating.

For most of us who are not artistically inclined, trying to create a cover design on our own is incredibly challenging. When you find yourself unable to generate an exemplary product, you may need to turn to a freelance designer or a company that specializes in poster/book cover graphics. Here are some options for you to explore:

Fiverr - budget-friendly, ample reviews from previous customers, and examples of work are provided by the designer, but make sure to be aware of AI use so your product is made authentically.

BespokeBookCovers - this company asks that you give a short synopsis of your book, along with some basic details, then you will be contacted to discuss more about what you are looking for. They do require a 50% deposit prior to beginning the design, but you do receive the product within 12 business days. They also ensure you are completely satisfied with the product before the transaction is complete. This company may not be the best for fantasy authors as most of their covers have more of a Colleen Hoover-esque aesthetic.

Miblart - This is a wonderful cover design company for fantasy writers, as evident in the examples provided on their website's home page. They do not require prepayment and offer payment installations in case the total cost at once puts a financial strain on you.

Editing and Formatting

Similarly to traditional publishing, you need to thoroughly self-edit your work before submitting it for professional editing. Suppose you feel as though you are proficient enough in editing that you do not require professional services or you cannot accommodate the cost. In that case, I suggest using workbooks or software to make sure your grammar and syntax are as high quality as possible. Here is a list of editing tools that can help you review your work:

Grammarly - a good resource for spelling, but it often flags intentional word-choice and sentence structure to make it more simple, which may be incompatible with your writing style. Also be aware of incorrect suggestions.

The Copyeditors Handbook - offers a guide to book publishing and addresses common writing errors. Does come with a workbook to help you exercise your skills.

It's also important that you understand the risks of self-editing. Sometimes it's hard to see flaws in your own story/writing because you already know all of the details. The reader does not have this knowledge, so certain plot points, wording, or details may be lost on them. Having a second set of eyes is incredibly beneficial to help you solve this problem. Here are some outside editing tools:

UpWork - allows you to list a job and review applicants. Each applicant is verified to be real, and you can sample some of their work and their credentials by viewing their profile.

Reedsy - employs Big Five editors to find a proper match for your writing

Raab & Co. - a self-publishing company that helps match you to a professional editor

ISBN

An ISBN number can help readers identify and find your book across multiple platforms, given that an ISBN is a unique number. You can buy an ISBN through Bowker or ISBN.org. An ISBN number on this website costs about $150 USD. This is not a necessary step, so no worries if you don't get one. It simply helps your book be more recognizable and appear more professional.

Pricing

The best way to figure out how to price your book is to look at similar publications on the platform you intend to publish on. Amazon is the most common, so look at your options. Generally, you can publish the book for a fixed price, or you can use Kindle Unlimited. Here's a list of pros and cons for Kindle Unlimited:

Pros:

Paid per page read, which is amazing for longer works or series

Saves a lot of time and effort as most of the work is done by Amazon, and it can generate more income than other platforms

Gain popularity because each time someone checks out your book or adds it to their library, it counts as a sale in your sales rank, which can boost your profile

Cons:

Unable to publish more than 10% of your book on any other platform while it is available on Kindle Unlimited, which limits your ability to reach a greater audience

Sometimes the length of the book affects income more so than the quality of the writing itself, so your book may be incredible well-written but have a lower sales rank.

[prores01]

Unlocking Success: Optimizing Your Resume for Job Applications

In today's competitive job market, having a standout resume is crucial for catching the attention of potential employers. With countless applications flooding in for every open position, how can you ensure that your resume stands out from the crowd? The answer lies in resume customization tools and techniques that can help you optimize your resume for each job application.

One of the first steps in resume enhancement is to tailor your resume to each specific job you apply for. Generic resumes often get lost in the shuffle, but by customizing your resume to highlight the skills and experiences most relevant to the position, you can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview. This means carefully reviewing the job description and optimizing your resume to align with the qualifications and requirements outlined by the employer.

Another important aspect of job application optimization is the use of keywords. Many companies use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to screen resumes, and these systems rely heavily on keywords to identify qualified candidates. By incorporating relevant keywords into your resume, you can increase the likelihood that it will make it past the initial screening process. Tools like AI CV generators can help you identify the most important keywords for your industry and incorporate them seamlessly into your resume.

In addition to customizing your resume for each job application, it's also important to pay attention to the format and layout. A clean, well-organized resume is much easier for recruiters to read and makes a better impression than one that is cluttered or difficult to navigate. Use clear headings and bullet points to highlight key information, and make sure to proofread carefully for any errors or typos.

Finally, don't underestimate the power of a strong resume summary or objective statement. This brief introduction at the top of your resume is your chance to make a memorable first impression and quickly communicate your qualifications and career goals. Use this section to highlight your most impressive achievements and explain why you are the perfect fit for the job.

In conclusion, optimizing your resume for job applications is essential for standing out in today's competitive job market. By using resume customization tools and techniques to tailor your resume to each job, incorporating relevant keywords, paying attention to format and layout, and crafting a compelling summary, you can significantly increase your chances of landing an interview and ultimately securing your dream job.

[canmom]

rn attempts to use AI in anime have mostly been generating backgrounds in a short film by Wit, and the results were pretty awful. garbage in garbage out though. the question is whether the tech can be made useful - keeping interesting artistic decisions in the hands of humans and automating the tedious parts, and giving enough artistic control to achieve a coherent direction and clean up the jank.

for example, if someone figured out how to make a really good AI inbetweener, with consistent volumes and artist control over spacing, that would be huge. inbetweening is the part of 2D animation that nobody especially wants to do if they can help it; it's relatively mindless application of principle, artistic decisions are limited (I recall Felix Colgrave saying something very witty to this effect but I don't have it to hand). but it's also really important to do well - a huge part of KyoAni's magic recipe is valuing inbetweeners and treating it as a respectable permanent position instead of a training position. good inbetweening means good movement. but everywhere outside KyoAni, it mostly gets outsourced to the bottom of the chain, mainly internationally to South Korea and the Philippines. in some anime studios it's been explicitly treated as a training position and they charge for the use of a desk if you take too long to graduate to a key animator.

some studios like Science Saru have been using vector animation in Flash to enable automated inbetweening. the results have a very distinct look - they got a lot better at it over time but it can feel quite uncanny. Blender Grease Pencil, which is also vector software, also gives you automated inbetweening, though it's rather fiddly to set up since it requires the two drawings to have the same stroke count and order, so it's best used if you've sculpted the lines rather than redrawn them.

however, most animators prefer to work in raster rather than vector, which is harder to inbetween automatically.

AI video interpolation tools also exist, though they draw a lot of ire from animators who see those '60fps anime' videos which completely shit all over the timing and spacing and ruin the feeling and weight of the animation, lack any understanding of animating on 2s/3s/4s in the source, and often create ugly incomprehensible mushy inbetweens which only work at all because they're on screen so briefly.

a better approach would be to create inbetweens earlier in the pipeline when the drawings are clean and the AI doesn't have to try to replicate compositing and photography. in theory this is a well posed problem for training a neural network, you could give it lots of examples of key drawing input and inbetween output. probably you'd need some way to inform the AI about matching features of the drawing, the way that key animators will often put a number on each lock of hair to help the inbetweener keep track of which way it's going. you'd also need a way to communicate arcs and spacing. but that all sounds pretty solvable.

this would not be good news for job security at outsourcing studios, obviously - these aren't particularly good jobs with poor pay and extreme hours, but they do keep a bunch of people housed and fed, people who are essential to anime yet already treated as disposable footnotes by the industry. it also would be another nail in the coffin of inbetweening's traditional role as a school of animation drawing skills for future key animators. on the other hand, it would be incredible news for bedroom animators, allowing much larger and more ambitious independent traditional animation - as long as the cheap compute still exists. hard to say how things would fall in the long run. ultimately the only solution is to break copies-of-art as a commodity and find another way to divert a proportion of the social surplus to artistic expression.

i feel like this kind of tool will exist sooner or later. not looking forward to the discourse bomb when the first real AI-assisted anime drops lmao

[rosesvillage]

the proliferation of AI use will increase racial, gender, and other social prejudice induced pay gaps. i was in the studio with a friend recently who was excited to show me how you can use an AI deepfake software, which converts the sound of your voice to a mimicry of a selected celebrity’s voice, to create new vocal styles. björk has a very distinct accent and vocal affect which cannot be mimicked by deepfake software alone. my friend imported his regular singing voice to the software, doing no accent or impression of björk. because he made no effort to himself reproduce the unique affect of björk’s voice, the software generated an interesting and realistic female vocal which was distinct from his own, björk’s, or any other singer’s voice. i, a professional musician and a woman, was sitting next to him as he gleefully explained how you could use advancements in technology to create vocals in the style of a woman, without ever hiring a woman, interacting with a woman, or hearing her opinions on your work. my friend was clearly only excited about a new tool and didn’t think about these implications, but therein lies the wider issue. i think there are great conversations about how AI could affect the quality of media and the internet as well as how it could automate prejudices in the context of security, job and apartment applicant screenings, and other institutional technologies; however, (while there’s neglect to ponder and discuss the negative potentials of AI at all) i think there’s especially been neglect in pondering how generative AI can be used to automate marginalized voices out of media. why hire a token minority (already problematic of course) when you can just generate a cheap impression of one.

[sixstringphonic]

“A recent Goldman Sachs study found that generative AI tools could, in fact, impact 300 million full-time jobs worldwide, which could lead to a ‘significant disruption’ in the job market.”

“Insider talked to experts and conducted research to compile a list of jobs that are at highest-risk for replacement by AI.”

Tech jobs (Coders, computer programmers, software engineers, data analysts)

Media jobs (advertising, content creation, technical writing, journalism)

Legal industry jobs (paralegals, legal assistants)

Market research analysts

Teachers

Finance jobs (Financial analysts, personal financial advisors)

Traders (stock markets)

Graphic designers

Accountants

Customer service agents

"’We have to think about these things as productivity enhancing tools, as opposed to complete replacements,’ Anu Madgavkar, a partner at the McKinsey Global Institute, said.”

What will be eliminated from all of these industries is the ENTRY LEVEL JOB.  You know, the jobs where newcomers gain valuable real-world experience and build their resumes?  The jobs where you’re supposed to get your 1-2 years of experience before moving up to the big leagues (which remain inaccessible to applicants without the necessary experience, which they can no longer get, because so-called “low level” tasks will be completed by AI).

There’s more...

Wendy’s to test AI chatbot that takes your drive-thru order

“Wendy’s is not entirely a pioneer in this arena. Last year, McDonald’s opened a fully automated restaurant in Fort Worth, Texas, and deployed more AI-operated drive-thrus around the country.”

BT to cut 55,000 jobs with up to a fifth replaced by AI

“Chief executive Philip Jansen said ‘generative AI’ tools such as ChatGPT - which can write essays, scripts, poems, and solve computer coding in a human-like way - ‘gives us confidence we can go even further’.”

Why promoting AI is actually hurting accounting

“Accounting firms have bought into the AI hype and slowed their investment in personnel, believing they can rely more on machines and less on people.“

Will AI Replace Software Engineers?

“The truth is that AI is unlikely to replace high-value software engineers who build complex and innovative software. However, it could replace some low-value developers who build simple and repetitive software.”

[anhed-nia]

PS I almost saw IN A VIOLENT NATURE for the first time at an open air screening on Governor's Island, a popular NYC destination for outdoor entertainment and close-to-home glamping. I thought that was a great idea, but ultimately I skipped it because I wanted to see the film for the first time without the light pollution and ambient noise. They made this cool graphic for it, though...which immediately triggered comments section controversy about AI.

The social media person replied that the image was not AI-generated; though the "scene" does not take place in the movie, it is a photograph of a person wearing the screen costume, just doing something fun on Governor's Island to advertise their cool event. No matter what your general feelings are about AI in commercial art, we can probably all agree that it sucks that we have to have these onerous arguments about everything now.

For me, and I think for anyone who enjoys visual art, the medium matters--not because of some imaginary hierarchy of importance, but because different media have different effects, traditions, and implications. And because, with respect to AI, the statement "This really happened!" and the question "Wouldn't it be cool IF this really happened?" inspire very different responses. My personal, casual feeling is that AI art is OK as long as it is easily identifiable as such; like I've seen some really fun AI images whose particular kind of outrageousness makes appropriate use of that specific medium. I'm a "right tool, right job" person, I think some things should be paintings and some things should be photos, some things should be stage plays and some things should be movies. You should carefully choose your medium and exploit the unique qualities of that medium based on exactly what you're trying to accomplish. For this reason I think that AI images that are just trying to fake the effects of i.e. painting or photography kind of suck. And related to that I object to living in a world where we all just have to throw up our hands and say "Oh well, there's no way to know anymore whether something is physically-real or whether it's just a hypothetical representation of something that maybe-could-be real, I guess the only thing we can do is not give a shit about where anything comes from or how it got here and what that all means." For me, "There's no way to ever know anything for sure so who fucking cares" is not an acceptable default setting. (And I realize this is becoming the central issue of our day due to all kinds internet-enabled misinformation and I'm treading on the hem of a way bigger topic here, but never mind all that now...)

But still, I find myself just as annoyed with fakery as I am with people who instantly declare something to be fake. Frankly I think those guys are just scared of being fooled and so they're trying to preserve their own sense of superiority by declaring everything to be fake before they have any evidence one way or the other. This is a very different thing in its consequences, I know, but some of these guys sound just like the bigots who go around trying to clock random strangers as trans; they always have these ridiculous lists of "evidence" that turn out to be just as applicable to afab and amab people as they are to people who have transitioned. It's all roughly the same flavor of defensiveness from people who are scared of being tricked into believing or feeling something that will turn out to be a fraud. And I can sympathize with that to some degree, I don't wanna be tricked into believing in, for instance, awesome-looking photo shoots that never happened; like if you said it wouldn't matter to you if the photos Thierry Mugler shot on top of the Chrysler Building turned out to be digital fakes, then I would happily call you a liar. But what I really hate more than anything right now is this immediate effect where as soon as anything cool-looking appears online, we all have to have these contentious arguments where insecure jerks pound their chests about how un-foolable they are...and sometimes it turns out that the "AI art" is real and so their claims to amazing powers of perception are a big embarrassment. I guess my conclusion is that if everyone agreed to make AI imagery clearly identifiable in some way, then we could all stop having our good time spoiled by this paranoid bickering that has become the prerequisite for enjoying anything. But that's probably an impossible dream.

[syogren-heartofcrystal]

I don't even have a problem with AI conceptually, I just hate the capitalism part.

Like machine learning is a useful tool with many applications, and yeah I would like to see it make good on its promise. The problem with "AI" "art" is that the training datasets are being taken from artists without their consent, and it is intended to be used to put artists out of a job in a society where having a job is necessary to afford survival.

ChatGPT has the same issue. Not everyone whose words were used to feed the algorithm gave their consent for its use, and it is being used to put writers out of a job in a society where having a job is necessary to afford survival.

But like. Even without AI, capitalism will still try to find ways to maximize profits with minimum investment. We aren't going to be safe just because we ban AI "art".

Like yes AI should not be used for this, but that's not enough. We have to get rid of capitalism entirely. Capitalism is the reason tech bros are trying to pull this shit to begin with.

It's so fucked up that we exist in a situation where we are upset that people are not going to be working as much as they used to be. This should be a good thing, because it leaves us more time to engage in hobbies, hang out with each other, and play. But because of capitalism, what should be a good thing is instead horrifying, because now people can't afford food.

Capitalism is the main problem here. We should be talking about that.