First They Came for the Factory Workers; Soon It Will be the Consultants and Lawyers

"First, a team of researchers demonstrated that Open AI’s Chat GPT3 can pass the stringent United States Medical Licensing Exam. Days later, Chat GPT 3 passed a bar exam. Finally, Chat GPT3 passed the prestigious Wharton Business School’s rigorous core examination. The Wharton researcher writes, 'OpenAI’s Chat GPT3 has shown a remarkable ability to automate some of the skills of highly compensated knowledge workers in general and specifically the knowledge workers in the jobs held by MBA graduates including analysts, managers, and consultants.'"

Real Clear Pennsylvania argues AI will devastate knowledge workers the way outsourcing devastated the state's manufacturing workers in years past.

"Lawyers, doctors, administrators, managers, and consultants are some of the most highly compensated professionals in the United States. Generative artificial intelligence is banishing them to obsolescence."

The writer calls for a "reindustrialization" of Pennsylvania, arguing industrial jobs will be crucial not just for people like laid-off factory workers, but also knowledge workers who once considered themselves and their professions immune to the forces of globalization and technological disruption.