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Arabella Mahan

Mr.Smith

ELA

16 October 2023

AI and the American dream

Imagine you find a passion for writing in your youth, you spend tens of thousands of dollars

studying literature in college to be a journalist, devote years of your life to improving your skill,

and are about to land your dream job, when all of a sudden; it comes out that they aren't hiring

humans anymore. They've gone fully automated, and are now producing all of their articles

without any human workers. AI technology is making this a reality, and is slowly replacing

human jobs and destroying careers.

AI technology is everywhere today, it seems like every major outlet is speaking on the growing

trend, how it'll change the world, or how it's ruining America, or how it'll increase companies

profits tenfold, or how it'll steal our jobs. Most jobs are at risk of being automated in some way

or another, Particularly journalism, programming and music making are brought up most in

media discussing the issue. One article published recently details, “Over the next 15 years, up to

38 percent of jobs in the United States are at a high risk of being replaced by machine learning,

big data, robotics, advanced manufacturing and other "smart technologies"” (Johndrow). The

article mentions other forms of automation as well, which also threatens people's jobs. Another

article states, “Artificial intelligence contributed to nearly 4,000 job losses last

month,”(Napolitano) When factoring in every way new technology could possibly impact the

workforce, it leaves little hope for any jobs at all to survive this new innovative revolution.
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While it's very possible AI has the potential to penetrate into every career to some extent, some

jobs are more at risk than others. An article, “workers views on AI’s risk to their jobs” by Rakesh

Kochhar, the author says “We found in our analysis that about half of workers (52%) in the

professional, scientific and technical services sector face a high degree of exposure to AI, more

than double the rate for workers overall.” (Kochhar) meanwhile, a contrasting article claims,

“new companies that leverage the latest technologies in AI and robotics… will be the ones

creating millions of new openings across the country. In a sense, new technologies

reallocate—rather than destroy—jobs.” (Niraula)

The overtaking of AI is all but inevitable, the unfortunate truth is computer-generated work is

simply more efficient than human labor. It costs less, has a faster overturn time, and can be used

in mass much easier. It's already being observed in everyday life, becoming an issue in most

schools, and a large number of jobs in the modern era use some form of digital technology in one

way or another. An article on this growing concern quoting, “Right now, the bulk of people’s

jobs are centered around managing technology. Art directors use Photoshop, surgeons rely on

robotics, and marketing directors create automated communication plans. ” (Johnson) It seems as

time progresses, the presence of technology in our everyday lives simply gets more and more

common, and in some cases and contexts, more and more necessary.

Despite all the negative stigma it's been getting, this new innovation isn't all bad, even in the face

of being implemented in the workforce. There can be many ways in which AI technology can

help increase people's quality of life or help them in their careers. One notable benefit is that AI

technology, when programmed correctly, completely reduces human error, which can be
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extremely useful in more volatile areas of work, such as the medical field. “In some cases – truck

drivers – machines will replace workers. In other fields – education and medicine – work will be

transformed, with machines assuming some tasks in close coordination with skilled humans

performing other tasks.”(Parker) The increase in computer-generated work may also prove to

further increase the value of human labor, such as customer service or ethical roles. It can also be

utilized to streamline repetitive grunt labor, or tasks that use up resources. This can help better

focus the talent of employees to more pressing or important tasks, and boost efficiency across

many different industries.

In similar fashion, many people believe that people are too worried and anxious about the true

impact AI will have on the workforce, and that it, like the many other revolutionary

advancements before its time, will make everyone's lives easier. This opinion is reflected in

many surveys and similar data collecting methods, one such study gathering, “The greatest share

of participants in this canvassing said automated systems driven by artificial intelligence are

already improving many dimensions of their work, play and home lives and they expect this to

continue over the next decade.” (anderson) in similar fashion, an agreeing article elaborates, “If

we really had general purpose AI, we could have much better healthcare, much better education,

amazing new forms of entertainment and literature and new forms of art that don’t exist yet,”

(Chica) this brings a compelling contrasting argument into the discussion, as people wonder why

people are focusing so much on all the negatives of such a revolutionary technological

advancement, and not instead the endless possibilities this could bring.
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Overall, there is no doubt AI and other forms of modern technology and automation will vastly

change our world, culture, and way of life. Whether these new changes will overall be beneficial

to our society or harmful is something that will have to be observed in time. As of right now,

there's no denying that it's a major breakthrough- and one that will make things so much easier

for so many people. But on the same coin, there's no denying the clear threat it is to our life, and

what we've long established as the American dream.

Arabella,

The overall structure of your essay works well, but there are a few aspects of

persuasive writing that we should keep in mind. The thesis needs to directly relate to

the prompt (in this case you need some mention of how AI is inhibitive to success in

America). Additionally, the general structure of a paragraph should be Claim,

evidence, analysis, conclusion. Oftentimes, you did not use your analysis to fully

back up your claims and thesis.

Rubric

Skill Not Foundational Proficient Advanced

Yet
Identifies a topic Appears in first Thesis establishes a
paragraph complex claim

Thesis establishes a
topic and a claim

Thesis Comments:
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Includes three or Includes multiple Includes specific,

fewer sources pieces of evidence meaningful, and
(from 8-10 sources) well-chosen evidence
Some evidence that clearly relate to that relates to the
relates to the thesis the thesis thesis

Includes multiple Includes a wide variety

Evidence pieces of evidence in of evidence
each body paragraph (primary/secondary
sources, political
Includes multiple types cartoons, opinion
of evidence pieces, studies, poetry,
fiction/narrative, etc.)

Comments:

Summarizes Explains how evidence Explains well-selected

sources supports topic points of comparison
sentence of individual among sources and
paragraphs evidence and their
connection to the
Explains how evidence thesis
Analysis supports the thesis of
the essay Demonstrates use of
advanced vocabulary
and varies sentence
patterns; evidence of
distinct voice and style
in the writing

Comments:

Little connection Explains how the Clearly explains

between texts; texts/sources are relationships among
difficult for the related, though points texts (how they
reader to see how could be more selective confirm or challenge
the texts are related or better developed each other, build on
each other, provide
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Synthesis Includes multiple differing perspectives,

sources in each body etc.)
paragraph
Utilizes a variety of
Utilizes transition transition words and
words and phrases phrases

Comments:

NY Some elements Heading is correctly No errors in MLA format

missing or some formatted
errors in MLA format
Pages are numbered

Most in-text citations

are correctly formatted

Works Cited: each

source entry is in correct
MLA MLA format
Format
Comments:

Shows evidence of Most quotes are All quotes are correctly

basic proofreading correctly integrated integrated

Follows essay Shows evidence of

Conventions
organization careful proofreading

Shows evidence of
proofreading

Comments: