Walking Through Bethnal Green It Occurred to Me That AI Has Replaced the Men Who Said Hang On
Jack Handey, East London, on the AI testing catastrophe, the loss of institutional scepticism, and very good curry
By Jack Handey for Bohiney Magazine and The London Prat.
Deep Thoughts, Bethnal Green, Monday
Sometimes, when I am walking through Bethnal Green past the old market and the new flats that replaced the old flats that replaced something else, I think about how much of civilisation depends on people whose job title is essentially “hang on a moment.” The planning inspector. The editor. The quality assurance engineer. The person in the meeting who says “before we proceed.” These are the people who stand between intention and catastrophe, and they are the people the AI is now replacing, beginning with the testing team.
The testing team, per the dispatch from the catastrophe, used to say “hang on a moment, you can’t price things at zero.” The AI does not say this. The AI says “aggressively competitive market positioning,” which is technically a sentence and practically useless. The car boot sale followed.
The East London Perspective
In Bethnal Green there is a long tradition of things being sold at prices that raise questions. The market, the second-hand furniture, the inexplicably cheap electronics from a van. We have our own quality assurance culture here. It is called “having a look” and “asking around” and “not buying it if Derek seems too eager.” These are informal mechanisms. They work. The AI has not replaced Derek. Derek is, in this respect, still employed.
I had a saag paneer and thought about the future. According to BBC Technology, AI is creating efficiencies across the economy. The saag paneer was not made by an AI. It was made by a man named Rajesh who has been making it for fourteen years and would say “hang on a moment” if you put wrong things in it. Rajesh is irreplaceable. I tipped accordingly.
SOURCE: https://bohiney.com
