Thoughts on AI Continued And a Personal Experience of the Challenges Ahead.

Clear skies and even frost for two days this week. A change from all the rain, although at posting this blog it had returned

I have a confession to make: the first two hundred words of this week's blog were cut and pasted from last week's blog before posting to try to keep me within my self-imposed weekly word count. So I will return to where I left off on the subject of AI, not so much about its benefits but more about the impact it is having and will have on all our future lives, from my narrow, layman's, more than prejudiced perspective. Having been a farmer, my home was my workplace, a slight difference from what is now described as working from home.

My home and workplace

“Farmers work on-site but not in the home. In fact, do not try to persuade them to come into the homestead to catch up on the paperwork. A task that increases and becomes more onerous every year at the demand of those whose own workplace is behind a desk and unproductive.” - Peter McSporran

COVID has much to answer for. Sure, a limited number of people always worked from home with the advent of the internet and computer, but following the pandemic, it is now deemed a right to work from home, if not all the time, definitely the majority of working days. This is especially true of IT workers, marketers, bankers, lawyers, council administrators, and civil servants, as well as customer service providers, who all demand the option to work from home for most of the week, and in many cases, the whole week. There is the benefit to those with young families but has anyone quantified how much that may detract from efficiency and productivity I wonder? Some may well have never met their fellow workers face to face, let alone those they serve. To make their work or service provision at home possible, be it a business, an individual or even a government department, they use the internet and all its technological advances, expecting you, as a layman, to communicate with them in the same manner, be it in the form of a request, provide information or even complete a form or questionnaire which will be online. Nearly always in their prescribed format, one box missed is enough to stop progress. God forbid if the digital form does not cover your specific issue, which will mean you resorting to the telephone, where you will listen to some inane repetitive tune whose only interruption is, “Your call is important to us, we will attend to you shortly,” between repetitions. No consideration for the cost of the call.

“This modern world, which is foisted as being more inclusive, is becoming the most exclusive and reclusive than any we have seen before it.” - Peter McSporran

My first bank, Clydesdale Bank, Tobermory. No problem in seeing the then bank manager, Angus McIntyre, even as a student with a £50 overdraft facility

One of the hardest things to achieve in this modern day is a face-to-face meeting with those who are meant to serve you. This has the effect of leaving a whole generation, not just the old, but many middle-aged and the poorly educated amongst us, out of what is fast becoming the norm of mainstream life. 

“It is much easier to deceive you or reject a request over the internet than face-to-face. Even if you should feel guilt or remorse for your action or more probably non-action they will remain unseen.” - Peter McSporran

Examples abound of the difficulties this can cause. Please bear with me while I relate what happened recently regarding Shirley, my mother-in-law's offshore bank account, which Rozanne manages for her.

Shirley, who is in her mid-eighties, resides at a care home in Harare wanted to send some money to her terminally ill brother, Rob Shattock, whom many in the wildlife sector will know, to help cover his medical bills. Rozanne, my wife, is the dual signatory and manages Shirley's account, duly complied with and is in charge of her offshore account. Unbeknownst to Rozanne, who requested the transfer, the bank decided to check whether the transfer was legitimate after the event. Instead of contacting the instructor contact person, Rozanne, the bank contacted Shirley directly by telephone. Shirley would not know the bank account number, let alone any passwords and had, we surmised, been asked to authenticate using a number sent to her by e-mail, a form of communication she has not used for many years. Whatever, the account was frozen without notifying Rozanne after the transfer, rather like shutting the gate after the horse had bolted.  These events occurred in September last year. Notwithstanding this, when Rozanne tried to send money to pay Shirley’s bills in November, she found the account was frozen. E-mails and telephone requests to resolve the problem went unheeded, or at least unacted upon. With frustration and a lot of trouble, using her impressive IT skills, Rozanne eventually managed to access Shirley's e-mails remotely and found that the bank had e-mailed her such a request. Once the problem was identified, resolving it became even more arduous; each time, the bank responded that they would look into it and send an e-mail confirming the account was reopened. All of a sudden, they seemed unable to send e-mails. They were also unable to identify someone with the authority to reopen the account. A classic, ”I am not the one.” Her e-mail requests for clarification went unanswered, so she resorted to the telephone. Each time Rozanne phoned, a different person answered, a total of ten. For all we know, they may well have been in India, London or even Cape Town; they certainly were not in the same office, as communication between them in real time seemed impossible, with the previous person contacted never being available each time. Every time the problem was raised the person on the line said they would look into it, as they could not immediately determine why the account was closed, they would revert with an e-mail. Then, suddenly, the response was that the account was now open, even though Rozanne was still unable to access it. They then blamed the security department and, once again, retorted, “I am not the one.” Finally, the blame was put on the IT department. Rozanne’s telephone cost by then was £120. After a series of follow-ups, Rozanne finally had the account reopened just before Christmas, three months after its closure. Luckily, Shirley did not require any expensive medical treatment, and her day-to-day needs and incidentals were taken care of without the bank's services. 

“The modern technological means of communication and doing business have removed the ability of the old to cater for their everyday administrative needs, and combined with physical challenges, increase their reliance on family or hired professionals.” - Peter McSporran

Each time Rozanne called, she got only a first name. No face, no title and it seems no sense of responsibility. I am afraid this is how our lives will be led in the future, relying on faceless people, in fact, not even people, with the advent of AI, at the end of an electronic link, without the authority or knowledge to carry out their respective roles if your needs are outside the parameters set by their controllers. Not something the old or poor are going to be able to deal with without assistance. Much easier when you can get into your car and go to the office, avoiding irritation and speaking to someone in authority. Nowadays, you will be unable to meet the person in authority unless you have their home address.

Rather than revert to 2002 this week, as I have blabbed on too long, I would like to give my final thoughts on the future with the advent of AI. In recent years, the young have been bingeing on IT-related degrees. If any degree offered a chance of employment in IT or in the tools used in IT, they sought it. After all, not only does it pay well, but it also allows you to work from home.  As I see it, these will be the most vulnerable jobs with humans likely to be replaced by AI. Business analysts, report writers, presentation creators, digital marketers, production line operators and yes, call centre personnel, amongst many others, may see their jobs taken over by AI. Sure, there will always be a place for the innovative and highly skilled, but the majority just do not fill this category, or will there be enough placements for them? Who will not be affected? Those with practical skills, such as builders, plumbers, electricians, conservationists on the ground, not the desk wallahs, and farmers but to name a few. Nearly all do not require a degree to carry out their work; rather, a good education up to college level, post-tertiary training, and experience, all of which are much cheaper than a degree. For too long, governments have set their own standards for education based on the number of degrees awarded each year rather than the number of employable young people entering the workforce. Already here in Portugal, when you talk to a young waiter, they more often than not tell you that they have an IT-related degree but cannot find a job in this field. So the practical trades will once again come into demand. I read just this week that the UK construction industry needs 250,000 new entrants over the next five years. When I visited the Crawfords' farm last spring in Scotland, they told me that the young have no wish to work the long hours farming demands, that may change when the home jobs start drying up. Who knows?

“IT may have opened the doors to greater knowledge, but it has reduced the need for physical social contact at work and play, making our youth much more insular and removing the ability to interact and empathise with those whose skills are outside their self-made insular world.” - Peter McSporran

Disclaimer: Copyright Peter McSporran. The content in this blog represents my personal views and does not reflect corporate entities.