Week one - Balt 4396 autonomy and automation

 This week, I dove into the power of AI autonomy and automation. The concept that AI is slowly making human jobs obsolete because it can finish jobs more efficiently with minimal error. Granted, there are jobs that AI can not recreate; That begs the question of what schooling someone should go into. Careers like finance, research, data analysis, etc are all in a threatening state for job loss with the vast advancement of AI. In Surfing the Tsunami, "Regardless of the viewpoint, highly-automated manufacturing and completely automated manufacturing are here to stay." (Page, 13). Although Robots are not autonomous yet, through the use of AI and programming, they are able to perform basic human tasks. 

At the same time, I learned that automation is not limited to physical robots; it is happening even more rapidly in software. Tasks like data analysis, financial processing, and decision making are increasingly being handled by AI through technologies like machine learning and robotic process automation. One idea that stood out to me was that “the question is not really if, but when” automation will impact jobs, which highlights how inevitable these changes are. While AI is not yet as complex as the human mind, it is already capable of learning and improving, making it a powerful force in many industries. Overall, this week showed me that the boundaries between what humans and machines can do are constantly changing, and it is important to adapt by developing skills that AI cannot easily replace.