Gigaom AI Minute – March 28

Transcript

At Gigaom.com/quiz, there is a ten question test that scores how likely any given job is to be replaced by automation, be it by a computer or a robot. I'm going to spend ten AI Minutes going through the questions one at a time, and why they're on the test.

Question #8: How much creativity does the job require?

You could answer this 0, which is less likely to be automated, if it requires an enormous amount of creativity, such as a writer, or a web designer, or a florist. And you might score it a 10, which suggests it may be automatable for something like a warehouse worker, or an assembly line worker. And then there are ones in the middle that require some creativity, like a travel agent or a chef.

The reason this is a pretty good indicator is that we aren't good at making machines that are creative. In fact, we haven't really made any significant inroads into that at all, and some people wonder if that is not an ability that is just beyond machines. But for now, the more creativity, the less likely it is to be automated.