To the editor: Reading about all of the people volunteering to have their manual labor captured on video to train AI robotic systems reminds me of the companies that fire their workers, but tell them to train their replacements (“Why hundreds of people in L.A. are strapping cameras on their bodies to do chores,” March 12).
It’s bad enough that white-collar workers and college graduates are losing out on jobs to AI applications. Now AI robotic companies are paying people to help train AI robots to do manual labor tasks. So, jobs that were presumed to be safe are going to become vulnerable to machine replacement. Right now the tasks are relatively mundane, but when will they move on to more complex jobs performed by plumbers, electricians and mechanics?
There’s no rush to put people to work at a living wage, but tech companies do want to speed up development of human-like robots (that don’t need to be paid) to replace human workers.
Les Hartzman, Los Angeles
