Artificial Intelligence, what should we think about this futuristic innovation? Some tech experts even presume that because of the rapid capabilities of Artificial Intelligence the whole world is a simulation. Elon Musk has said that there is only a “one in billions” chance that we’re not living in a computer simulation. Our lives are almost certainly being conducted within an artificial world powered by AI and highly-powered computers (Full article).
This might be hard to believe and may not affect our lives today. However, certainly there must be a result of this mystic AI that affects our own lives.
Well, as famously quoted by Trey Parker and Matt Stone from South Park: “They took our jobs”. Yes, they could take our jobs.
Is Artificial Intelligence going to fulfil all of our jobs? This is what many experts believe is going to be true. Rapidly improving AI could lead to mass unemployment. This could happen because jobs are created at a lower pace than computers are taken them over. Of course, there are jobs that are more likely to be fulfilled by computers, for example, administration and logistics. However, at the end almost every job is potentially vulnerable to improved artificial intelligence.
It’s very difficult to predict,” said Dr Shanahan. “That is, of course, a concern. But in the past when we have developed new kinds of technologies then often they have created jobs at the same time as taking them over. But it certainly is something we ought to be discussing.”
He however praises Google nevertheless that they created an ethics board on how to maintain AI safely and reduce the risk of deployment. Furthermore,
This paper suggests that nearly half of all jobs are under threat and could be automated in at least twenty years. These jobs are mainly routine based, and therefore could be replaced with increasingly advanced algorithms.
In addition, advanced robots are gaining enhancements, allowing them to perform a broader scope of manual tasks. This is likely to change the nature of work across industries and occupations.”
Do we need to be worried? What do you think?
Source:
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/advances-in-artificial-intelligence-could-lead-to-mass-unemployment-warn-experts-9094017.html
Hi Scipio,
Interesting post. Technology is changing definitely changing jobs although I think that the threat of Artificial Intelligence on employment is only limited. Of course there are jobs such as administration and logistics that you mentioned that are more likely to be replaced by computers and robots but in my opinion, the vast majority of jobs will not be replaced by Artificial Intelligence. I do believe however, that Artificial Intelligence will change the way a lot of jobs are fulfilled. Artificial Intelligence will work alongside jobs instead of replacing them completely.
Take the healthcare industry for example. This is an industry where technology is expanding rapidly. Something we all benefit from. Better medicines are being developed and the treatment that patients receive is becoming better and better due to technology. Technology in the healthcare market serves more as support and it will rather bring improvements instead of replacement. Technology already allows operations without the need of doctors. However, doctors always have to supervise what the technology is doing. So technology is more an instrument for doctors instead of a replacement. Doctors will never be replaced by Artificial Intelligence.
A recent report that was published by Forrester states that the future is not as bad as many people fear. Besides artificial intelligence there are other cognitive technologies such as robots and machine learning that could replace jobs. According to Forrester, Artificial intelligence and robots will eliminate 16% of jobs in America by 2025. This is a scary number and obviously will only create more unemployment in America. The report by Forrester, also states that these technologies will create new jobs. They estimate that there will be a job increase of 9%.
I think your right that technologies is definitely something we should pay attention to as it could potentially replace a number of jobs which has negative results on unemployment rates. However, I do not think that Artificial Intelligence will completely replace jobs. Artificial Intelligence will work along side people.
Hi Scipio, thanks for the interesting blog post. As you mentioned the outcome of new technology overtaking many occupations, which now belong to humans is very likely. However, I think we can simply call that technological progress and instead of being worried we should prepare for it. Such advancements will not come for many years (I read 20 years at least, do not remember the reference), which gives us enough time to train or retrain for jobs that will remain for us, people.
Hi Scipio,
Thanks for your post! I read an article about a study done by Oxford predicting that 47% of American jobs are at risk of disappearing to automation. As artificial intelligence is becoming increasingly important, I think that studying Business Information Management will definitely benefit us in the future! However, the main jobs that should be worried are those that are routine and easily defined, such as bookkeepers, call center operators, travel agents, manufacturers … Nevertheless, jobs will also be created in the science, technology, engineering and science (e.g. nanotechnology) fields. The question is, will it create enough jobs to provide work to those who ‘lost’ their jobs?
– http://www.techrepublic.com/article/ai-is-destroying-more-jobs-than-it-creates-what-it-means-and-how-we-can-stop-it/
– https://techcrunch.com/2016/05/13/robots-wont-just-take-jobs-theyll-create-them/
Very interesting topic of choice!
I find it particularly fascinating that you open with a quote by Elon Musk. While the ‘simulation theorem’ that you refer to is only loosely related to AI, but rather an outcome of neuro-realistic simulations (think super-VR), the concept of AI is something that our generation will inevitably face.
Your main concern seems to be joblessness – a very pertinent worry considering that this was the role of technology for our parents’ generation. Throughout the last half century, western economies lost huge numbers of manufacturing jobs to automation, and AI is indubitably heralded as the alpha and omega of automation. However, I encourage you to consider that the only impact of automation so far has been a shift from manufacture to service economies: automation moves us out of the factory, and into customer service. This has always been the case, as human interaction has so far been the only thing impossible to imitate technologically.
AI is an unknown beast, and it is one of the modern technologies that Mr Musk himself states could be potentially ‘world-ending’. I believe that our concerns about such a powerful innovation should be about safe and responsible use, as well as equitable distribution, rather than joblessness.
We must remember that the economy is hypothetical – we can always come up with more jobs.