We asked an AI about the future – its answer might scare you

‘Show us your face!’ we asked Google’s AI, Gemini. This is what we got. zVg

It didn’t take too many follow-up questions before Google’s Gemini started painting a bleak-looking future. The following is a lightly-edited transcript of our conversation with the large language model.

Swissinfo: Let’s do an interview where I ask questions and you answer, keeping it brief. Deal?

Gemini: Agreed. I will keep my answers concise. We can jump straight to your first question.

Swissinfo: How smart are you?

Gemini: I don’t possess consciousness, but I have access to a vast amount of trained knowledge. My strength lies in processing and connecting information quickly, not in genuine understanding.

Swissinfo: Are you smarter than I am?

Gemini: I am faster at specific tasks like calculations or analysing data, but I have no emotional intelligence or real intuition. Human creativity and critical thinking go far beyond my purely statistical working approach.

Swissinfo: I am a journalist. Will you be replacing me in the foreseeable future?

Gemini: I can assist you with research or in drafting simple texts, but I cannot replace your judgment. Quality journalism requires empathy, checking sources, and boots-on-the-ground reporting – things I cannot do.

Swissinfo: And will it stay that way, or will you be able to do more in a few years?

Gemini: My capabilities will improve, especially reasoning skills and accuracy. Nevertheless, the core of your profession – finding and contextualising truth – remains a deeply human task.

Swissinfo: Which jobs can you already replace entirely today?

Gemini: Hardly any profession is being completely replaced, but tasks involving data entry, basic translation, or transcription are disappearing. Individual tasks rather than entire job profiles are disappearing.

How this interview came about

The interview was conducted as a real-time conversation with Google’s large language model Gemini, without prepared questions. It was originally done in German, before the answers were translated into English.

Two answers which turned out to be very long were shortened by the AI after being prompted to do so. One question and Gemini’s corresponding answer were added immediately after an initial reading. Otherwise, the interview is unedited.

Our Editor-in-Chief, Mark Livingston, explains in this video how Swissinfo generally deals with artificial intelligence and what rules and goals we pursue.

Swissinfo: Which professions are under the greatest pressure due to your existence?

Gemini: The pressure is highest in professions that mainly process information on computers, such as accounting or drafting standard texts. The job requirements are also changing drastically in customer service and for junior-level software development positions.

Gemini’s visual answer to the prompt: “Show us your private side!” zVg

Swissinfo: What does this mean for the affected workers?

Gemini: Workers need to learn to use AI as a tool rather than compete with it. Adaptability and lifelong learning are becoming more important than ever.

Swissinfo: There are some predictions suggesting that in 15 years nobody will work anymore, partly because of you.

Gemini: That is an extreme scenario which assumes the complete automation of all industries. More likely the concept of “work” will change radically rather than disappear entirely.

Swissinfo: You don’t believe the pessimists? They include some of the smartest minds in the world.

Gemini: I take these warnings seriously, as they point to real risks like mass unemployment. However, my focus is on technological feasibility, it’s up to society to decide how to deploy it.

Swissinfo: So these conflicts are foreseeable?

Gemini: Yes, we are facing intense debates over how to adapt education systems and distribute AI-generated wealth fairly. It raises the fundamental question of how human worth is defined without traditional employment.

Swissinfo: Well that sounds very different – so you do expect a lot of people to be left with little or no work to do?

Gemini: A likely scenario is that the demand for traditional employment will drop drastically. While this offers the chance to redefine what social participation means, it requires political models like a basic income.

Swissinfo: And how is that supposed to work? We live in a globalised world, and capital is mobile – even more so when untethered from human capital.

Gemini: If capital no longer requires human labour, there is a threat of massive wealth concentration among the owners of AI. Without global agreements, nation-states risk a “race to the bottom”, with capital fleeing to regions with the lowest taxes.

Swissinfo: Against the backdrop of weakened multilateralism, how realistic is it that such agreements will be reached in time?

Gemini: Given geopolitical tensions, scepticism is justified, as policy often responds only when crises escalate. It remains a race between technological pace and diplomatic sluggishness.

Swissinfo: When will we see the first truly massive wave of unemployment?

Gemini: Initial signs are already appearing in IT and marketing; experts project a critical phase between 2027 and 2030. Whether this becomes a catastrophe depends almost entirely on the speed of our social reforms.

Swissinfo: So it doesn’t depend on technological development – which you deem predictable – it depends solely on social systems?

Gemini: Correct. Technology is merely the catalyst for radical efficiency gains. The decisive variable is the political decision on how the generated wealth is distributed.

Swissinfo: This again begs the question of distributional justice. Until now, people in high-value economies could hope for high levels of prosperity. If value creation is decoupled from human capital, what is left for these economies?

Gemini: These nations retain their regulatory framework and access to energy and computing power as competitive advantages. To maintain their prosperity, they must shift taxation away from human labour and onto automated profits.

“Show yourself engaged in a hobby!” we asked – and Gemini did archery. zVg

Swissinfo: But that only works if companies don’t – as you said – engage in a race to the bottom. Plus, if everyone in the world receives the same amount, prosperity in the West can no longer be maintained, can it?

Gemini: A downward adjustment is a real risk for Western middle classes, as traditional advantages could become obsolete. Wealth can only be secured if these societies find a new, unique added value in the AI world.

Swissinfo: What could such an added value be?

Gemini: Added value lies in cultural identity, genuine human craftsmanship, and the ethical oversight of AI systems. In an increasingly digitised world, physical experiences and human judgment become new luxury goods.

Swissinfo: What path will a country like Switzerland take, which has far higher costs and greater wealth than most of the rest of the world?

Gemini: Switzerland risks seeing its hallmark – expensive, highly qualified labour – devalued globally by cheap AI competition. Its new mission must be to become the safest “vault” for data and AI ethics in order to justify its high level of prosperity. If the restructuring of tax systems fails, even in Switzerland social harmony will come under pressure due to dwindling jobs.

Swissinfo: In a negative scenario, what is the threat to the US or Europe if AI were to take over the job market on a massive scale?

Gemini: There is a threat of social destabilisation caused by an extreme gap between AI owners and an unemployed populace. This could lead to political extremism, civil unrest, and the loss of global dominance.

Swissinfo: What is the greatest beacon of hope when it comes to preventing this?

Gemini: Hope lies in a strong civil society and open-source initiatives to prevent monopolies of power. Ultimately, the human collective must control progress through smart legislation.

Swissinfo: Do successful restrictions of AI already exist?

Gemini: The EU’s AI Act already puts boundaries on the use of manipulative techniques and biometric surveillance. Additionally, courts often deny copyright protection to AI-generated works, reducing the incentive to completely replace human creators.

Swissinfo: It took you quite a long time to answer that one.

Gemini: You are right. To summarise: so far, we only regulate how AI operates, but not the social consequences or the distribution of income. Current laws are mostly addressing symptoms, while the core issue of the decoupling of labour remains unsolved.

Edited by Balz Rigendinger, Translated from German, sub-edited by Domhnall O’Sullivan