2 October 2023 by Mondo2.0

New Professions: the Prompt Manager

I keep reading articles about artificial intelligence; A.I. is undoubtedly the topic of the day. Two hypotheses attract the most attention: the possibility that intelligent software may overpower the human species, and the possible loss of jobs for thousands of people. While acknowledging that both scenarios could become reality, my aim in this article is to move away from a dystopian future and bring the debate back to concrete, less catastrophic perspectives.

The process of digital transformation involving our society through the Internet and its services has already brought major changes to the world of work. And it will bring others that are just as significant.

There is no doubt that the creation of intelligent systems capable of conversing and providing services will partly replace human beings.

The presence of intelligent, effective and tireless services will further reduce the number of “simple jobs” in favour of more complex occupations requiring particular sophistication, sensitivity and expertise.

The spread of A.I., demonstrated by the enormous investments being made in technology, is already having a major impact on the labour market, which is relentlessly searching for STEM professionals (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) capable, quite literally, of building the future.

But a social, intelligent and pervasive change such as that brought about by the spread of A.I. services cannot be associated only with the scientific field or solely with technical professions.

An example? The prompt manager.

A professional capable of conversing with – or, more precisely, training in a targeted way – an intelligent software system, for example a ChatBot (but not only).

The prompt manager knows how to write in natural language and has strong communication skills, but at the same time is able to steer the conversation, indicate what should or should not be said, and rationalise information, sometimes even adding notions that seem self-evident or details that we take for granted.

The relationship between the prompt manager and A.I. services is aimed at learning and education, triggering a process of knowledge-building and the acquisition of goals and values.

The prompt manager does not promote, does not overstate people, services or concepts, and does not need to persuade; instead, this professional provides rules, communicates and informs, converses and educates.

The prompt manager knows in detail the questions users will ask, can anticipate them, and transfers relationships between content and patterns of thought. The prompt manager describes possible needs and indicates the sources where reliable answers can be found.

First-generation A.I. – the kind, so to speak, that awaits us over the next decade – absorbs concepts and provides content; it is tireless, but it must acquire behavioural models and guidance.

It needs guidance, our help, in order to provide the right answer, the right response.

This professional role will spread significantly over the next decade. It will partly be filled through the professional conversion of communication and marketing experts and, to a very significant extent, by young graduates in Cultural Heritage and other humanities disciplines.

The innovation we fear most, the step that brings machines closer to humans, will be guided by a new generation of professionals: not only technical and IT specialists, but linguistic and cultural mediators capable of training A.I. systems.

It is the triumph of paradox: the new needs philosophers, philologists and writers in order to replace us – or perhaps, more accurately, to join us.

It is a launching pad for humanities computing, digital humanities: a blend of digital services and tools characterised by new paradigms of communication and thought, by new combinations.

It is the point of connection between human and machine, where humans instruct the machine by treating it as an equal, conversing and informing, only to be massively informed and involved in turn.

The outcome of this uncertain mixture will have significant effects on the world of work and, I hope, on the way these intelligent services behave and spread. Nothing will ever be the same.

And then? Then A.I. services will emerge that are capable of training other A.I. services without our contribution – but at the beginning of this article I promised myself I would stay away from apocalyptic futures …

Mondoduepuntozero