How AI Will Save Humanity
Today AI is in the process of disrupting almost every industry around the globe. In the next several decades AI will replace large amounts of the workforce, and any task that is repetitive or routine will be automated.
According to Fortune, it can be as high as 800 million jobs, and In a widely acclaimed study, the prediction states that 47 percent of employees in America are at high risk of losing jobs due to automation and AI.
“This replacement is happening now, and it’s happening in a true, complete decimation,” — Kai-Fu Lee
Some economists believe humanity is on the verge of an economic collapse, and countries may have to temporality adapt universal basic income programs for their citizens to cope with the aftermath of this revolution.
Wait, I thought this article was about how AI will save humanity, not destroy it?
That’s where it gets interesting, and I should note that this article is completely inspired by Kai-Fu Lee’s TED talk on the same topic, which I highly recommend.
As Lee points out…
“The work ethic in the industrial age has brainwashed us into thinking that work is the reason we exist. That work defines the meaning in our lives.”
You see, what AI is going to do at the very least, is force us to re-think what it really means to be human.
Right now, Wether we want to work more (for riches) or we have to work more (for survival) it’s probable that most people are over-worked. It’s also probable that much of that work is routine labor.
Lee explores the idea of moving towards jobs of compassion, because that is what distinguishes people from machines. It is “Giving and Receiving Love that differentiates us from AI.”
We are relational beings, we need companionship, empathy, and the need to be social. We need to find ways to use AI to make humanity better, and AI can help unleash true human potentiality.
It Will Take Time
I realize that Lee may be oversimplifying things a bit here. If you are someone working a routine job earning a daily wage to support your family, asking that you transition to a job of compassion is not that simple. In fact, for many people it may be impossible, based on their age, career, skills, etc…
However, the aftermath of the AI revolution will probably be a long one that can easily span a generation of workers. Perhaps Lee is looking further down a longer road, a road of hardship to an eventual promised land.
When the smoke clears, we will be forced to think about what is truly important to us. What Lee perceive’s, and maybe he is right… is that in the future, we will come to the realization that AI has played a large part in helping us identity what really matters to us.
AI will help us discover what it really means to be human.
