Tech 2.0

Media and News: The Sinking Ship

By: Jeremy Freeman
    
     The reports come in daily. ‘Another round of layoffs’ seems to engrain itself into every news report about big tech or circulation news networks. As the story takes many twists and turns there may be just one logical answer to this pondering question: Why are so many losing jobs in an ever-growing market. Answer: Ideology.
     Whether one wants to agree, as a whole our system of how we give and receive information is at best, questionable. Misleading headlines, click-bait material, re-iteration of slanderous interpreted context pieces, all are what we consume yet when tasked with adventuring out into the web to learn the story in its entirety, we pretend that the articles found are written in an ancient text no longer able to be translated. To make matters worse, the purchase of Twitter showed us deep corruption within a private company and the Justice Department. Meta owner Mark Zuckerberg, when asked if they were contacted to submerge the laptop story told Joe Rogan that yes, in fact they were requested, although he stated it as if it was brought to their attention along with other “disinformation”. Meta alone has laid-off approx. 20,000 employees the last two years, mostly due to the launch failure of Meta, Inc.
     Twitter began the tech clean-up with his purchase of the social media platform in late October 2022. With many employees still on leave due to Covid-19, Elon brought back “the essentials,” and “trimmed the fat”. The fat being a mere 6,000. Several less than his younger tech mogul. ESPN has entered the chat as recently as Tuesday July 4, with removing an astounding 20 on-air personalities, with many behind the scenes being laid off as well. Totals have yet to come in. CNN, amid several different controversies, has laid off all of its top talent due to many reasons. In a shocking move, Fox cut ties with its number 1 host, Tucker Carlson with allegations coming out of his place being abusive to work in. On top of the payment to Dominion Voting Systems, it seems Fox has hemorrhaged money and the fountain is drying up fast. Google isn’t out of this, either. They are currently leading the races on layoffs with 50,000.
     None of the tech companies seem to be losing money, all within the last two years have shown 5 percent or more growth, as only the news channels are showing any significant loss. With such polarization that’s created, it is no wonder why so many refuse to get their news from these once trusted institutions. The growth of independent news organizations has crippled the already anemic market. Most people have grown into two categories: short clips or long conversation. The added divide in who we receive our information from adds what feels like the twenty-third wound to these former trusted news sources.  The best thing the tech companies have to offer is the ability to share information as it is presented. Allowing the public to know what exactly the governments intentions were and are throughout our longstanding election process and shedding light on, in the most sensible way to say it, infiltration into our information, what it is, and whether or not we are able to process it. This honestly just drives an even deeper rift between ‘The People’ and who the FBI swore to protect.  As long as there is transparency and the tech giants can operate smooth with the limited number of people on staff, I know a whole country in need of some blue-collar workers. Most companies that provide a lot of our everyday essentials are looking for help in the most unlikely of places…Artificial Intelligence.

     Rosie. You remember her. The robot on the Jetsons. The combination of sass and comfort were what made us remember her name. I know reminiscing over fiction is not what you came here for so, what does this have to do with that? Correlation. See, much like the inevitable collision this story has with Rosie, quantum computing and Artificial Intelligence are making the future bright as they chug like a train towards one another. Some are nervous, mostly due to uncharted waters. Even some developers share skepticism in conversation. Recently, Twitter held a virtual town hall meeting discussing with top developers what the plan of the future of AI entails. According to Lockheed Martin on their website it highlights how tech is transforming how humans and machines are working together. The biggest leap in artificial technology can be seen in no other place than the military. AI development enables rapid action of unmanned war fighters while allowing the person manning it to be in a safer zone, possibly sitting on a couch.
   
     Specifically, Lockheed Martin developed its patented Skunk Works technology to prove its manned/unmanned ground strike capabilities in a team format. It created four distinct requirements and tested in an experiment called, ‘Have Raider’ and effectively displayed its capabilities with ease. All information can be found on Lockheed Martin website under the Have Raider Demo information board. The military cannot be the only benefit in the rapid climb to complete automation and artificial intelligence advancement.

     Writers are feeling the negative effects of the growing popularity. As the writers/actor’s strike in Hollywood gets further away from reconciliation, the major argument had been the wild card of AI and its benefits compared to its dividing attributes. Actor and writer Johnathan McClain compared his battle akin to other industries and predicts many more as technology becomes greater and easier to use.
“It’s easy to marginalize what we do because it’s entertainment and I get it. But I feel on some level we are, as far as this tech conversation is concerned, a little bit of a canary in a coal mine. This is an important moment and we’ve got to really make a decisive stand.” McClain, standing outside Warner Bros. Studios said. He is correct. As someone who personally has seen the rise in automation in manufacturing, AI has removed several jobs both from the mechanical standpoint and the production of goods.

     As a member of the maintenance technology world, I first-hand have witnessed what automation can do for a company in comparison to hiring and training new employees. Unfortunately, the love/hate relationship I carry with tech, I cannot truthfully say that AI has not been a benefit. In fact, I have found that the more you understand it, the better you are in the field and more beneficial to the company you work for.  It does come with a price. Learning the tech, applying for everyday use, and a stringent preventative maintenance process that changes almost as fast as the tech itself.

     Is there a light at the end of the tunnel? Will we see the unrest of many who lost their jobs to something illusory? Can we find a way to use it to reach far greater depths in space and under water? Truth is we are unsure. The feeling of not knowing leads to the unrest. Developers are requesting to just let it happen. Some good nuances that have rose from the ashes have been the development progression over at SpaceX. Using AI, the prototypes for potential re-usable interplanetary space ships are being tested. From the controls down to the ignition sequence, AI has broken ground on how we even launch rockets into space. With its first launch in 2006, SpaceX continues to blaze the path, drowning the competition in launches per year, and rocket development. As of November 2022, SpaceX was producing 1 Raptor rocket per day, with the capacity to make 4. These are the foundations for their ships. More information can be found on the company’s website.

     Jobs, jobs, jobs. Remember pulling out the newspaper to find a job? If you do, first, how was your nap? Second, it’s a thing in the past. Thanks to AI development, finding a job has not only become simple and easy, you’re in the driver’s seat. Companies come to you, now. If you know how to develop AI, there is a world looking for your expertise. This is all to say, it won’t all be bad. But like most new things, we may need a bit to work out the bugs. People will fall at first, but as humans have since the dawn of creation, we will find a way. We will find the benefits. We will use those benefits and open up possibilities we only thought of as a cartoon. “One Rosie the Robot, please.”   

References:
www.spacex.com
www.lockheedmartin.com
https://fortune.com/2023/07/24/sag-aftra-writers-strike-explained-artificial-intelligence/