Agreed. I was at the start of the internet revolution. It was all hype and no one had a clue. The Simpsons did an episode where Homer sets up an IT company and Bill Gates didn't understand what it did (neither did Homer) so sees it as a threat. There was a lot of these types and they soon died (not before somebody made a big profit).
I remember having a group conversation with colleagues as we tried to predict what would happen (mine were wrong). One guy nailed it. He said it doesn't matter how smart your website is business will succeed or fail on their ability to deliver things. He was absolutely right so many companies went to the wall because they couldn't do the basics. Meanwhile Amazon spent a fortune and never made a profit for years because it invested in warehouses and logistics which was the right call.
Back to AI the same principle applies. The AI companies that succeed will be the ones that find a market. Whether they will aim directly for the consumer or offer their services to other corporates remains to be seen.
AI is a tool but it needs to find a market. Any idiot can set up a basic AI to answer the phone or chatbot. The AI's that thrive will be the ones that can corner a market and monetise it. I should find my old mate and ask him for investment advice.
There's a lot of unreliable slop with AI and I think that once the novelty wears off....which I think is already happening....then people will rely upon it more as a support rather than this panacea which many people have been sold.
That said, I think in most industries it will quicken outcomes (via expert systems and eventually robotics) and in certain industries it will be revolutionary but those industries are those that are mainly closed loop systems rather than open.
I think humans driving will mainly become a passtime by 2050....by which time I'll be pushing up daises. And it's this reality....(that transition times with complex systems takes time because of scale/price) that until mass production makes pricing available for all....those jobs won't be gone for well, until Gen X is mostly a memory.
Physical labour jobs will be the same, anything that fits a 'template', like a house or producing a product, excepting maintenance those jobs are gone....That will probably be quicker than cars for companies that can afford the investment.....It's already happened in China 'their automated ports are amazing' and with big US companies like the aforementioned Amazon.
It's the jobs that involve closed loop systems that will go....just as chess is performed better by programs now, so will anything that can be automated without much fuss.
The creative industries will be a human industry but only 'in person', so comedy stand up, theatre, bands, all the industries where human contact or experiences are what people want. I see those industries getting bigger as automation becomes more and more a part of your daily life. I don't see that changing for a long long time until you can't tell the difference between a robot and a human....in actual person, which despite some nice prototypes....in reality is a long way off.
But personally I think language models will exist as more of a support role for experienced professionals for many industries for a long time, which means less jobs, but not no jobs.
If I were a teacher advising a bright lad...and the occasional bright lass who showed interest. I'd be advising them to get involved in robotics.
What this means though for Mr 90-100 IQ is a bit scary. As we know that they have been screwed by their leaders for a generation already and I'm not seeing how that changes.....Hopefully I'm wrong....because MR 90-100 might just decide to throw a hissy fit and who can blame them....happened with the Luddites (but then again, the Luddites actually did have new jobs eventually).
In terms of investment, at the moment companies like Nvidea and other big hitters are building the physical AI and software infrastructure and at some point that intense build stage will near it's end...I'm not invested personally (I like gold and silver coins) but if I were......Personally I'd be looking to exit a year before that happens.
Because whether AI is a disappointment or not (I think it'll be a disappointment compared to the hype), that infrastructure is going to be built and the money is going to be there....public or private because FOMO is real.