There is a lot of concern about the ability of ChatGPT to replace lower-skilled workers but it will probably make them better. In the 19th century a phrase went, "God man but Sam Colt made them equal" and ChatGPT could give those without inherent gifts that same leg up soon.

The days when you could seem smart by having a good memory and confident delivery style may be over, which means greater equity for all.

An experiment involving 453 college-educated people showed generative AI systems like ChatGPT or DALL-E can go way beyond historical automation technologies like the cotton gin or automated teller machines. Unlike the past, when automation took over routine tasks consisting of explicit sequences or steps, like manufacturing or bookkeeping, generative AI can be creative. This worries artists and occupations like screenwriters the most.



Whereas cotton was once only for nobility, automation made it available for all. Low-skill workers found other jobs. So did 150,000 bank cashiers when ATMs became popular. Low-end writers and artists will fall off the same way but those born in other countries, or who are not allowed in a union, but the experiment of 453, half of whom were allowed to use ChatGPT, showed that 80 percent of those allowed to use ChatGPT did and that the writers in this group were substantially more productive than the control group. Since they were paid more to be more productive and the judges were a panel of experts, the results were telling. 

Not only did the time taken to complete tasks decrease by 40 percent, but the output quality also rose by 18 percent. What’s more, the authors found that participants with weaker skills benefited the most from the use of ChatGPT, illustrating a reduction in overall inequality among workers.