[The Editors' Verdict] Washing Machines and ChatGPT

Like Home Appliances That Changed Human Life
Supermassive AI to Rewrite the Economic Map
Policies Needed to Minimize Job Loss and Information Gap

The artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT craze, designed to learn autonomously and answer human questions, is heating up. Companies are rushing to adopt ChatGPT or add conversational features to the large-scale AI they have developed, competing to launch a Korean-style ChatGPT. Government ministries and the National Assembly are actively learning ChatGPT. Academia is also raising its voice, saying this will be an opportunity to rewrite not only human history after the Industrial Revolution and the Information Revolution but also the global economic map.

This is a somewhat old story, but it was about 10 years ago at the Berlin International Consumer Electronics Show in Germany when I interviewed Markus, the chairman of the home appliance company Miele. When asked to describe Miele in one word, he replied, "A company that changes the world and the times through home appliances." That sounds plausible. Miele, which started selling manual washing machines operated by hand in Germany in 1911, focused on electrification and in 1914 created and began distributing the world's first electric washing machine. Under the philosophy that home appliances change human life, they introduced vacuum cleaners in 1927 and dishwashers in 1929.

Behavioral economists say something similar. They argue that the invention of washing machines and dishwashers freed women from housework, enabling active social participation. While it is difficult to fully accept the claim that the improvement of women's status and social advancement is directly related to 'housework,' it is clear that tasks that took 3 to 4 hours by hand washing were reduced to less than an hour.

ChatGPT has shown that AI can replace simple, repetitive tasks performed by humans at minimum wage. Tasks that took tens of hours to organize data and several times more to interpret can now be assigned to AI. In customer centers, AI resolves most complaints instead of human agents. Instead of struggling in front of a kiosk menu or talking to a clerk to order a hamburger, people will be able to speak to AI to place their orders.

This is why the AI revolution started by ChatGPT is frightening. Every time new jobs become possible, existing jobs inevitably disappear. Combined with increasingly miniaturized robots, the dystopian scenarios depicted in science fiction (SF) could become reality. Not only jobs but also the digital divide, which has become a social issue since the information age, will deepen. There are still groups excluded from the internet due to economic reasons. As more people fail to access information others take for granted, the gap between rich and poor widens.

ChatGPT recently launched a paid service costing $20 per month. Paying users can access the service and receive answers quickly even during peak times. The free service is just a sample; to actually utilize AI for work, one must pay. Similarly, the home appliance revolution required the economic power to purchase these devices. If you cannot afford a washing machine, you must spend your time and labor washing by hand. Fortunately, local governments and others are supporting low-income groups with washing machine assistance programs.

The president has stepped forward, and the government is responding. They say they will organize laws and systems and support innovative companies. However, there seems to be no concern about the side effects of AI. The change has already begun. It is time for policy consideration to minimize the new information gap caused by AI and to prevent the creation of new wealth disparities.