Robots and AI Will Not Create Mass Unemployment

Despite widespread adoption of new information technologies, the U.S. is not seeing rapid job obsolescence. In fact, we’re seeing just the opposite.

by Patrick Cox
September 24, 2018

Because I make predictions for a living, people ask me what we’re going to do about all the people whose jobs are destroyed by artificial intelligence (AI) and automation.

The silver lining to that question is that it assumes we’re not going to be enslaved by Skynet.

I’ve worked with many accomplished scientists, but I’ve never met anybody who fears that electronic components and software can achieve anything resembling true sentience or self-determination. That’s probably because most of the scientists I know are biologists, so they realize how primitive modern computer technologies are compared to the incredible genetic and neurological complexity of human consciousness.

Fear of mass unemployment due to AI and robotics is, in my opinion, a variant of the same irrational fear.

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