Skip to main content

Artificial Intelligence and Jobs



Artificial Intelligence or AI has transformed the world in many ways. In the past few years, we have seen this technology being adopted for many different uses. While AI is extremely fascinating and helpful, many tech-leaders of today are not very optimistic about it. Tesla's CEO, Elon Musk said that AI poses a greater threat to the world than nuclear weapons {1}.
Image result for artificial intelligence
Source

A topic that is widely debated on these days is whether AI will create more jobs than it kills. Undoubtedly, AI is going to kill jobs. However, various reports say that by 2020, AI is going to actually create more jobs than that it will kill {2}. Some AI fans and economists agree with this statement. But, there is still a large group of people who do not believe in it. Some argue that only employees who are skilled and educated will be benefited. Unskilled labourers will be left without a job.

Image result for elon musk copyright free
Elon Musk
Let us consider computers. In the 1960s, John F. Kennedy said that the use of computers in offices is going to result in the end of jobs for many. He also argued that robots in factories are going to leave unskilled and semi-skilled laborers without jobs. However, in the past technology has always resulted in job creation. Computers are used by almost everyone in almost every field. A salon uses computers to manage appointments of their clients, companies use it for communication, data processing and storage, creation of products and selling their product as well. There is a person employed to manage the computer. Probably in the 1960s, computers were not used by everyone. However, by the 2000s, everyone had their own computer. Most offices have an entire division (IT department) that deals with computers and helping employees of that company with any issue. Technology has always resulted in the loss of a few jobs. But, around the jobs that are lost, many more are created. By 2020, 1.8 million jobs may be lost due to AI, but 2.3 million are to be created (3).

Consider the weaving industry. During the Industrial Revolution, a lot of the processes were automated and it resulted in the increase in production capacity and reduction of errors, i.e. money lost. In an hour, production was increased by a factor of 50. 98% of the job was automated. However, there was still a need for employment of people. They needed labour to check if the machines were running and address any issue around the weaving process. Between 1830 and 1900, the number of jobs quadrupled due to the increase in demand of cloth due to the reduced prices of cloth as a result of automation and greater efficiency. As trade increased, more jobs were created.
A more recent example would be that of ATMs that was predicted to cause unemployment in the banking sector especially for bank tellers. However, the reduced cost of running a bank resulted in banks opening more branches to cater to customers. This naturally lead to an increase in employment (4).

At the end of the day, AI is technology. Technology has always proven to create jobs in excess of the number it has destroyed. From the economic point of view, it not only creates jobs but also reduces expenditure of companies and people. The money saved can be reinvested to create more jobs indirectly and directly. Unskilled labourers might not find a job very easily. But the reduction in the cost of many commodities might benefit them in unimaginable ways. 20-30 years ago, Personal Computers were luxury items owned either by rich individuals or companies. Even upto 10 years ago, a smart phone was a device not affordable to all. Today the dynamics have changed. PCs have almost disappeared and almost everyone owns a laptop(s) of their own. A smart phone has become a necessity and affordable. This is due to the reduction in prices of these goods brought about by automation and technology. Owning a device today has benefits such as online education, networking, knowledge sharing and more. An unskilled labourer can get certified online or even do an online course to curate new skills that will help them secure a job. Unskiled labourer's children who often only have access to appallingly low standards of education have a platform to learn online to better understand topics.

A certain of number of people are going to lose jobs that may not be easily replaceable. In the short term, many may find themselves unemployed. But this is okay. Not everyone can always be benefited. The effects of AI on the world will be seen in the long run. The world has changed in ways that most thought were not possible. People could not embrace technology early on. Nowadays, without technology, literally nothing is possible. To survive in this world we should be able to adapt to change. In our world only one thing is constant - change. Without adapting to the ever changing world in which we need to constantly renew our skills and do better, the losers are going to be those who are dead set on not learning anything new and not recognizing the benefits that outweigh the negatives.
With respect to change, consider the role of umpires in cricket. 50 years, the umpire's decision was final. Lately, a lot of decisions are being taken by technology. A program can determine whether the ball might have gone on to hit the stumps when it is blocked by the batsman (LBW). A snicko meter can tell us whether or not the ball grazed past the bat before being caught behind. However, we still have two umpires on the field (just as before) incase of a situation in which the decision cannot be entirely guaranteed by technology (Umpire's Call). Moreover, now there is an additional job that has been created for the 'third umpire' who sits off the field to review any decision using technology.
Umpires could have protested the introduction of technology saying that their jobs are at threat. However, they managed to learn new skills such as using the software provided to them to judge with greater precision that results in a victory to the team who deserves it, rather than who were lucky due to faulty umpiring.

I conclude by saying that AI will probably have a short term effect on employment. In the long term, it is unarguably going to create more jobs. While it is not ideal for those unskilled people who lose their jobs, sometimes we must sacrifice for the greater good. The rich pay higher taxes to enjoy almost the same civic facilities (if not less) provided by the Government as compared to someone who does not pay taxes and this is a sacrifice on the rich person's part. It is sad that the unskilled group will be the biggest short term losers, but regulatory frameworks on AI and technology like that of India's will be pitiful and put us on a road where we will again be 5-10 years behind other countries due to useless policies of our Government. Wake up!

---------
Like what you are reading?
Buy me a coffee?
Ethereum (Exclusive Address for my Blog):
0xb1E998e34a27eF7b544d33E9F0d7A01A3011BB39

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Visiting the Kasturinagar (KA-03) RTO - a tumultuous but manageable experience to get a Learner's/ Driver's License without an agent/ driving school

Ask anyone, and I can guarantee that they will have a story (and in most cases, many stories) about their trip, or rather, numerous trips to the RTO for something as simple as getting a Learner's License (LL) or a Driver's License (DL). In this blog, I hope to make your life a tad bit easier by guiding you through the entire process, which may seem easy at first but is full of (overcome able) challenges if you know what you are doing. I turned 18 in January this year, and besides cutting a cake, I worked on my LL application online. I challenged myself to complete the entire LL to DL process by myself and without the help of an agent or a driving school, unlike what the majority do. The lengthy application process and multiple visits to the RTO, impressed upon me why most people decided to pay a little extra to get an agent to do it for them. Still, I was determined not to pay a single rupee more than the official cost. I succeeded.  Do note that this answer is concerning the K

Kicking off a 'political career' in an idea-based, grassroots level political party

Despite having been following politics for the longest time, and now studying it full time, I never joined a political party. When people used to ask me "who do you support?", my answer was standard, "no one". Luckily for me, ever since turning 18 and being eligible to vote, there hasn't been an election in which I'd be forced to cast my vote and tell people that I have made a definitive choice about a particular political party. At a time when politics has become ever so polarising and dirty, I couldn't be happier to associate myself with the BNP. It was in February 2020 that I was introduced to the Bengaluru NavaNiramana Party. I found their vision, leadership and ideas incredibly refreshing. Though I was aware of their launch/ kickoff meeting that took place in Freedom Park in early 2020, due to a friend's TEDx talk taking place simultaneously, I could not attend. Then, between Board Exams and the lockdown that took us all by surprise, I forgot ab

Living life out of a suitcase

  December 2022 As I sit on my fourteenth flight for the year, with two more scheduled before the curtains are drawn on 2022 (god bless my carbon footprint), laptop open, a glass of wine and a blank word document, I begin to ponder over my journey over the last few months. Penning it down and (at the risk of sounding philosophical) ‘reflecting’ on this journey seems imperative.  --- May 2022   After two wonderful years of ups and downs in Le Havre (thank you, COVID-19!), I said my good-byes, packed my bags and was on the train to Paris. But that was not my final destination – for now at least. After spending two nights at a friend’s, dropping my baggage off at a relative’s, catching the French Open and a round of golf in the middle, and a train to Beauvais (an hour north of Paris), I was on a flight to Barcelona. Checked in to my hostel, met my friend, went for 3 days of the Barcelona Formula 1 Grand Prix together, watched a Redbull 1-2 finish, celebrated with beer, sangria and tapas,

Climbing Trees

I like to climb trees. I climb some thick trees in my apartment. Now we play games on the tree also. Right now we have invented three games. First one- whoever can reach top of the tree is the winner (Invented by Sanjith Rao). Second- We lock someone in a small jail like thing and then we climb on the tree and get out (Invented by Sanjith Rao). 3rd- We hide on trees and then someone on a cycle has to catch us. (Best Game)(Invented by Sanjna Rao my sister and me) Here is a picture of me climbing a tree:

Sustainable Bitcoin Mining

Source Bitcoin mining has become popular amongst people with large data processors and also fintech-geeks who are interested in the world of mining. Mining is at times not very profitable due to the increase in complexity of problems given to miners (as more and more Bitcoins are mined) and electricity and other expensive overheads. According to NZ Herald , "Bitcoin mining uses so much energy that it could cause blackouts". The repercussions due to this is that an American city known as Platssburgh has already banned cryptocurrency mining for 18 months and Iceland believes that more energy will be used to mine Bitcoin rather than power their houses this year! The need for a sustainable model for mining is prevalent. With the introduction of cloud mining, many "non-techy" users have been able to mine Bitcoins by buying Hash power from various companies and making them mine Bitcoins for you. All you need to do is invest a particular amount and leave the rest of

Wizard 101

Wizard101 is a free game you can play. Wizard101 is created by the company KingsIsle. In Wizard101 you have quests to accomplish. In some quests you have to fight monsters. By fighting monsters you sometimes get things like pet snacks, robes to wear, hats to wear etc. In Wizard101 you have 2 types of spell cards, they are- Treasure cards and Trained cards. Once you use a treasure card you loose it. The advantage of using a treasure card is that it gives more damage on the monster you are trying to kill. Trained cards give less damage but you have them forever. You also have spell decks in which you have to keep your spells in. There are different spell decks. By default your wizard will have the starter's deck. After you pass levels you can buy different decks. I am right now in level 10 and I have 3 Decks, they are- Starter's Deck Pinewood Deck Novice's Life Deck The Starter's Deck can store only 12 cards. The Pinewood Deck can store 16 cards. The Novice's Life

How I Spent My Dasara Vacation (Sneak Preview)

Day 1 (24th September) I woke up at 8.00a.m. I quickly got ready and then had breakfast at 9.00a.m. I quickly had a bath and then played on the computer for 15 minutes. Then at 10.30a.m I went to play cricket. I came back home at 1.00 p.m. and had lunch.After finishing lunch I made a few word-searches on the computer. TO BE CONTINUED