Artificial Intelligence (AI) and its value, ethics, power, and future are in your daily news feed. Journalists raise important questions such as "Will AI replace your job?" and "Will the government really remove guardrail protection and train AI bots to surveil and potentially harm citizens?" The topic makes good headlines, but the concern is real. I'm sure some of you IT administrators out there have wondered if an AI bot will take your job. The answer isn't obvious, but as company executives strive to make investors happy, the measures they take will surely affect employment in a negative manner.

The funny part is that executives are always hunting for ways to save money without causing issues with business continuity by targeting the people who are in the trenches doing the actual work. Those of us in the trenches aren't making the big money that the executives enjoy. We all know about the disparity between worker pay and executive pay, so why don't business owners look to replace management with AI bots rather than the people who flip the switches and push the buttons? Management would be far easier to replace than someone who performs hands-on tasks. If I were to write a simple script to replace almost every IT manager, it would go something like:

#!/bin/bash
# Read all input (but ignore its contents)
read -r input
# Randomly choose response
if (( RANDOM % 2 )); then
  echo "Yes."
else
  echo "I'll get back to you with an answer."
fi

Even if you can't read a Bash script, I think you get the idea that it's much simpler to replace someone who only supplies a "Yes" or an "I'll get back to you with an answer" than it is to replace someone who needs to make decisions; fix what's broken; troubleshoot complex situations; and interact with users, customers, and managers. That's my hot take. I'm sure some very competent middle managers and executives do much more than placate their management, owners, and shareholders, but I have yet to encounter them in my career. Perhaps my scope and experience are limited.

This part of the AI roller coaster is that long, slow ride to the top before you're released into freefall with your hands held high: waiting on so-called decision makers to contemplate your fate while you worry about your mortgage, children's healthcare, and career options in a world motivated by finding the lowest successful bidder.

You'll also observe on your trek around the loops that no matter how successful AI companies are, their stock prices still fall. It's the exact opposite of what should happen. It's the feeling of falling although you're traveling up against gravity. I understand the uncertainty surrounding AI: its promises, its future, and, more personally, what it's going to do to me and my family.

What is certain, though, is that soon AI will affect every part of your life – your car, your appliances, your home, your communications, your privacy, your healthcare, and even your food. People are blindly embracing AI and its flaws as if it were as safe as those foam balls introduced back in the 1970s that "won't hurt babies or old people." AI is the new foam ball. It seems safe and benign because we control it. What happens, though, when no human riders are on board or no person is pulling the lever to start and stop the roller coaster? Will we still feel the same?

Don't get me wrong. I am a daily user of AI tools. I have multiple AI "badges" that prove my competence. However, as with any tool, there is good and bad. A hammer is a great tool, but if you drop it on your foot or hit your finger, it's now a @#$%! menace. I expect to see a lot of AI hammers being dropped onto human hands, feet, and careers. Tools are good until you lose control of them. The roller coaster still requires a human hand at the switch. A roller coaster without human riders is no fun. Let's go forward and vow to use this new tool ethically, safely, and with restraint.

No AI was used in the writing of this article.

Ken Hess * Senior ADMIN Editor