|
Useful technologies destroy some jobs but tend to create many more. The eternal problem is that it’s hard to imagine new jobs before they are created, or even to conceive of how much more productive someone holding an existing job can be if empowered with a new tool. So it’s easy to be fearful contemplating only the current tasks that may soon be automated. Stock investors were feeling less fearful Tuesday after Monday’s modest sell-off in the equity markets, which was triggered by a Citrini Research report with an
imaginary future memo describing job destruction in 2028 from artificial intelligence. Jack Pitcher sums it up for the Journal: While new jobs related to AI industries begin popping up, they won’t come close to replacing all the jobs being cut and outsourced to AI, according to the Citrini report. Companies feeling price pressure cut staff to keep
margins high, investing in their AI capabilities instead. This leads to better AI capabilities—and the need for even fewer workers—in a self-perpetuating cycle. Mass layoffs concentrated in traditionally high-paying fields begin to ripple through the economy. And while the blue-collar and gig-economy labor markets are less affected, white-collar workers who can’t find work begin to flood in, increasing labor supply. Wages plunge, putting a chilling effect on America’s consumer-dependent economy.
|
