I don't know, did people stop learning arithmetic when the calculator was invented? Does nobody play sudoku since a computer can just solve it instantly? Do we not care about good chess players since they can never beat the computer?

Every video game you play has been played already by countless others. Every puzzle you solve was already solved. Machines can play Chess far better than any human. An aimbot that can be programmed in minutes can beat any human player at Counter-Strike. People continue to paint in spite of photographs. People weave in spite of looms.

Just because something can be done better by an AI does not mean it is not meaningful, still, for people.

We're already idiots. And if you only enjoy doing things because youre the best Ive got bad news for you.... youre already not the best.

AGI has the potential to create even more mentally stimulating tasks by enabling humans to work alongside intelligent machines to achieve even greater results. AGI can be used to augment human abilities, enhancing our problem-solving skills and enabling us to tackle more complex challenges. This creates a new frontier of exploration and discovery, as humans and machines work together to push the boundaries of what is possible. For example, maybe the thought of creating a neural network for the AI in your game never crossed your mind, but AI could help you that. Its still stimulating because its likely the AI won't get it perfect on the first try and you will need to guide it.

Another anology is how coding used to be way more tedious 50 years ago and high level languages made it much easier. AI can allow you to focus on the creativity parts and the important parts, and put less focus on the annoying parts.

I don't have to be the best at something to enjoy it.

When Photoshop layer effects came out, people who made money from doing simple layer effects were angry. Then folks started figuring out you could utilize layer effects to make much better effects.

It will be mentally stimulating to produce movies and comics and games using AI-supplemented human work. Animations will have more frames in them just like the 2010s animation industry didn't typically animate like The Flintstones.

No, not really.

People who really love what they do won't give up on it just because an AGI can do it better. Many will be able to use AGI to accomplish much more than what they could've ever reasonably done as a single person.

For example, let's think of a creative person. Maybe they draw, or they write, design video games, or they can create music. Maybe the idea that AGI can make them irrelevant in their specific skills would be depressing, but they could also leverage the AGI's other capabilities to their favor. Imagine being a 14 year old kid with your cobbled together fan fiction story, and virtually having an entire animation and game studio at your command.

That's why I think that with the spread of generative AI, you will see a shift from people just producing work that only uses one creative skill set or discipline, and instead shift towards multidisciplinary media. Imagine a comic artist scanning their pages into a computer and letting the AI turn the panels into a fully animated sequence. Imagine a writer feeding their final draft to the AI and getting a full live action movie, or TV series. An artist designing character turnaround sheets and letting the AI turn them into 3D models in a game world.

You know, as I write this, I can't help but feel a sense of irony. Before generative AI became a real story, the common wisdom was that it would be the creative jobs that would be trampled by technology last, and watching Dall-E, Midjourney and Stable Diffusion evolve appeared to completely destroy that theory. However, I'm starting to believe that the creative people who can roll with the punches will still outlast everybody else, who only work to fulfill some sort of rote function to society, or just to get paid.

A trucker or cab driver doesn't have many other options if the trucks and cars drive themselves. An office worker won't be missed much if AI can get all the paperwork done by itself. An electrician or a plumber won't have much of a plan B if general purpose robots can perform their jobs. Plenty of work horse, support artists will feel the pinch too. But, the artists who have a real creative vision and finally have the tools to act on it? They'll be out there, creating entire virtual worlds. Maybe that's how the true metaverse will be born.

Well, anyway...

If the worst fate that AI inflicts upon us is challenging our personal pride, then we should celebrate. That would mean that alignment has been solved.

It makes creating more interesting, productive, and fun. It’s not perfect so it’s up to the creators to bring it to the next level.

Progress will happen forever, there'll always be new things, so boredom will never be a problem.

Just play factorio while AI does work for you.

Nothing's stopping you from doing those. Just because you can 3D print a sculpture doesn't mean you can't carve one out yourself. Just because you can buy premade food doesn't mean you can't try cooking. Just because you can get veggies that are harvested by machines on a farm doesn't mean you can't try growing them in your house. Nothing's stopping you from enjoying the original process when there are easier alternatives, but getting rid of easier alternatives does stop lots of people's enjoyment for being stuck in the original process.