As artificial intelligence technology becomes more capable, it threatens more types of jobs – like lawyers, bureaucrats and managers. What social upheaval will happen if those people can’t find work?
The Industrial Revolution led to centuries of social and economic upheaval. Are economists telling us not to worry about workplace automation because things will be better in a couple hundred years?
Rather than fret about how many jobs future technologies will destroy, we should focus on how to shape them so that they complement the workforce of tomorrow.
Australia’s Chief Scientist Alan Finkel says while it’s possible to build robots to take over jobs – including his own – humanity still has the edge over machines.
Rethinking work is crucial for industrialised and emerging economies, where job losses are being felt even in the presence of substantial, although diminishing, economic growth.
Today, the U.S. is leading the robotics revolution. But without timely investment, China will overtake us, and could permanently put Americans out of work.