Fearing new technologies lies in our human nature. The upcoming technology of Artificial Intelligende (AI) is no exception. We can see several similarities with for example the development of the internal combustion engine in the past. People feared that it could have a negative impact on the number of jobs available for them. However, we have seen that this was not the case as the technology allowed for the emergence of new jobs in the same industries. Around experts there is not much consensus about whether the same will happen with AI. For example, Erik Brynjolfsson and Daniel Rock, with MIT, and Tom Mitchell of Carnegie Mellon University, point out that AI will have a limited impact on people’s jobs (McKendrick, 2018). They state that AI is highly specified and that the technology will be able to only take over just parts of many jobs. According to them, most jobs incorporate both tasks that are suitable for machine learning and tasks that are not suitable for machine learning and require human capabilities which leads to jobs being only partially taken over by AI. This is the optimistic view. However, a Pew Research Center study found that 48% of 1896 experts “envision a future in which robots and digital agents will have displaced significant numbers of both blue- and white-collar workers” (Smith & Anderson, 2014). In line with this vision, Subhash Kak states that AI is different from earlier technological revolutions in the sense that is does not aim for just increasing industry efficiency (Kak, 2018). It aims to replace the human mind, making it essentially different from earlier automating revolutions.
As the fear of technology taking over jobs could this time actually be true, we should start thinking about the implications for society. For example, as Subhash Kak mentions, modern society needs jobs for emotional wellbeing. The solution of a guaranteed minimum income, as proposed by some people, does not provide in this human need. Humans need a purpose in life, a job gives them a sense of contribution and status. As AI could take this away from a large part of the workforce, this could have serious implications on their emotional wellbeing. In my opinion, this kind of implications of AI deserves more attention. Of course, AI will have different implications for different jobs, but in general I think we can say that certain jobs are in danger of disappearing and that this will have major consequences for the people affected. At this moment we are already well into the transaction to a society in which AI plays a major role, therefore we should start thinking about it’s consequences right now instead of when problems start occurring.
Kak, S. (2018) Will Robots take your tob? Humans ignore the coming AI revolution at their peril. [Online, available at https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/will-robots-take-your-job-humans-ignore-coming-ai-revolution-ncna845366 ] (Accessed on 17-10-2018)
McKendrick, J. (2018) Artificial Intelligence will take over tasks, not jobs. [Online, available at https://www.forbes.com/sites/joemckendrick/2018/08/14/artificial-intelligence-will-replace-tasks-not-jobs/#7c0c1bbca7fa ] (Accessed on 17-10-2018)
Smith, A., Anderson, J. (2014) AI, Robotics, and the Future of Jobs, Pew Research Center.