People are afraid of AI taking their jobs. There are lots of jobs that people are better at than machines, we have just decided not to pay for them.
I am looking for a new job. However, I cannot look 10 hours a day, everyday for it. Nope, I just don’t have that kind of stamina. Especially when I am looking somewhat tangentially to my last role.
To continue to grow and to contribute to society, I have been volunteering. Some of my activities are closely related to my professional life, such as being an advisor to a small start-up. Other volunteering activities are related to causes that I feel strongly about personally. (I help at a food bank because I believe that in our wealthy country, no one should be hungry. )
When I started on my post lay-off volunteering journey, I had no idea how many organizations recruited volunteers. My eyes were opened wide the first time I went to the volunteer Toronto website and saw thousands of volunteer opportunities. The opportunities range from those services that governments refuse to pay for (food bank operation, delivery of meals to seniors), to those that corporations refuse to pay for (such as assisting attendees at tech conferences). I have to admit the range of roles and sought after skill sets on the volunteer page blew my mind. BTW, Toronto is not unique, a quick Google search gave me volunteering websites in NYC , London, and am sure there are many more.
As a society, we value the efforts by individuals who give freely to their communities. We view this as a show of character to give of time and skills. So much so, that many provinces in Canada require high school students to perform mandatory volunteering in order to graduate. I am sure that other school systems put a similar value on the practice. The goal is to encourage citizens to continue to volunteer throughout their lives, to be good citizens. However, many of the volunteer openings are not suited for these students. Many organizations are hoping to attract more seasoned volunteers to work for free.
To be sure, some worthwhile endeavors would not occur without the efforts of these individuals. However, I am a bit challenged by the number of volunteering openings that are within for-profit organizations. Consider, for instance, tech conferences with thousands of paying attendees and commercial booths being supported by hundreds of volunteers. The volunteers may receive an entry pass or similar honorarium. Why would people volunteer for organizations that use their free labor to enhance their profits? Perhaps it is an event on a topic of interest that the volunteer cannot afford to pay the entry fee.
I would not propose that all volunteering be curtailed. Certainly for those people that cannot work, giving of a few hours to be able to enjoy a film festival or hear an interesting speaker gives them enjoyment that they would not otherwise afford. I do wonder if they are getting a fair deal. The perks I see offered at fan expo probably cost the organization very little and volunteers are required to pay a deposit, which they lose if they cannot make it to their first shift for any reason. I would expect that the real cost of using volunteers is much less (to the organization) than the cost to pay these people minimum wage. In some cases, organizations have been sued for inappropriately labelling a position volunteer and not paying for work.
So what is truly making me crazy about all of this? As a society, I hear many people lament what they perceive as abuses of safety nets. So if a disabled person, student, single parent cannot work at a standard full time or part time gig, why not pay for these short volunteering stints that are time boxed? And make sure the rules allow for this work. Many want to contribute, now that I am volunteering much more than before I see it all the time.
Additionally in the social sector, we are relying on the good will of people to donate money, food, and time to charities to ensure that some of our most vulnerable are looked after. Charitable donations are highly variable, meaning what the organizations can deliver are also variable.
Huge corporations are becoming more efficient with AI and mechanization. As a result, they are eliminating the need for cashiers, customer service agents, writers and even programmers. At the same time, I am seeing organizations using getting free labor to do jobs that AI can’t do. With all the money that they save, paying people instead of expecting them to work for free seems reasonable to me. And then with this economical boost, perhaps municipal and provincial/state governments can get the tax base they need to look after seniors, and other vulnerable groups.
Yes, AI is displacing people but let’s use the money and freed resources to be better.
