The Rich Can Afford Personal Care. The Rest Will Have to Make Do With AI

"The Rich Can Afford Personal Care. The Rest Will Have to Make Do With AI.

From personal trainers to in-person therapy, only the wealthy have access to human connection. What are the options for the less advantaged?"
(Source: WIRED - Allison Pugh)

Allison Pugh is Professor of Sociology at The Johns Hopkins University, and the 2024-25 Vice President of the American Sociological Association.

-"The burgeoning field of social-emotional AI is tackling the very jobs that people used to think were reserved for human beings—jobs that rely on emotional connections, such as therapists, teachers, and coaches. AI is now widely used in education and other human services."

-"The question is, who will be on the receiving end of such automation? While the affluent are sometimes first adopters of technology, they also know the value of human attention".

-"We know that good relationships lead to better outcomes in medicine, counseling, and education. Human care and attention helps people to feel “seen,” and that sense of recognition underlies health and well-being as well as valuable social goods like trust and belonging. For instance, one study in the United Kingdom, titled “Is Efficiency Overrated?”, found that people feel more socially connected when they have had deeper conversations and divulge more during their interactions".

-"Yet fiscal austerity and the drive to cut labor costs have overloaded many workers, who are now charged with forging interpersonal connections, shrinking the time they have to be fully present with students and patients. This has contributed to what I call a depersonalization crisis, a sense of widespread alienation and loneliness."

-"The rise of personal trainers, personal chefs, personal investment counselors, and other personal service workers, in what one economist has dubbed “wealth work”, shows how the affluent are fixing this problem, making in-person service for the rich one of the fastest-growing sets of occupations. But what are the options for the less advantaged?"

-"For some, the answer is AI. Engineers who designed virtual nurses or AI therapists often told me their technology was “better than nothing,” particularly useful for low-income people who can’t catch the attention of busy nurses in community clinics, for example, or who can’t afford therapy."

[Si pensabas que eras muy 'cool' y muy 'trendy' por usar la tecnología más avanzada siento decirte que, además de trabajar gratis para supermercados pagando en cajas de autopago o realizando tus gestiones bancarias mientras despiden a sus empleados, eres pobre. Las interacciones con máquinas, por muy IA que sean, están destinadas a reducir mano de obra para maximizar beneficios y ofrecer a cambio un pobre sustituto a las masas. En la era de las pantallas, la prestación de servicios por parte de personas es un lujo que sólo se pueden permitir los ricos.]

hashtag#inteligenciaartificial hashtag#futurodeltrabajo hashtag#tecnology hashtag#humaninteraction