August 24, 2018
Is AI a threat to humanities most significant employers?
The Bank of England seems to think so, according to Andy Haldane, the chief economist, artificial intelligence may render people “technologically unemployed” in something known as the “Fourth Industrial Revolution”, the effects of which will increase inequality and social tension. In simpler terms, Haldane is warning us that robots are taking over human jobs. Although this comment sounds like it has been made by someone who has been watching too much science fiction, Haldane actually has evidence to back it up.
You may be wary of fully believing Haldane’s claims as he is an economist and not someone who works with artificial intelligence for a job, however Tabitha Goldstaub, someone who actually does work with AI, as part of the Artificial Intelligence Council, which I’m sure you can agree gives her plenty of authority to talk about such issues, has stated her concerns as well by saying there is a “huge risk” that people may not be able to keep up with the changes in job roles available. Goldstaub also goes on to say that the change is “definitely happening quicker than ever before” so we may not have long to prepare ourselves to secure the future of jobs.
As well as the BBC, popular publications such as Forbes have published their thoughts and predictions on how they think Artificial Intelligence may affect jobs. They have also come to similar conclusions, with Forbes also stating how mainly manual jobs, such as assembly workers and miners, will be most at risk of being taken over by Artificial Intelligence.
Haldane and Goldstaub have put forward a solution and a brighter side to this dark prediction of unemployment. As artificial intelligences takes the roles that humans once occupied, there will be new roles that open up, and if we get the right training, we should be better able to keep up with the machines.
So, to conclude, it does seem likely that the types of jobs for humans will change and jobs that existed in the past, and are available currently, will be taken over by machines thanks to artificial intelligence but consequently there are likely to be opportunities to do jobs we have never seen before. So it is important not to view this Fourth Industrial Revolution, as robots stealing our jobs, but as a crucial chapter in the development of humanity.
Sources
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-45240758
