AI Wants to Make the Middle Class Great Again (But It’s Complicated)

Can artificial intelligence rebuild the middle class, or is it just another capitalist ploy to widen economic inequality?

The robots are coming for our jobs! Well, that’s what everyone seems to think. Whether it’s Elon Musk warning about the end of human work or Geoffrey “godfather of AI” Hinton suggesting we all learn plumbing, the fear of a jobless future in the age of artificial intelligence is pervasive. In a 2023 Gallup poll, 75% of U.S. adults believed AI would lead to fewer jobs.

Ironically, this anxiety about employment comes at a time when the US has created an economy with one of the lowest unemployment rate amongst developed nations (and the lowest overall since modern times). The real issue isn’t the availability of work; it’s about the type and quality of those jobs.

AI might hold the key to improving job satisfaction, but only if it’s used in the right way. A new research paper by David Autor, titled “Applying AI to Rebuild Middle Class Jobs”, explores how Artificial Intelligence can do exactly that: restore the kind of middle-class, middle-skill jobs that have been hollowed out by decades of automation and globalization. Drawing on collaborative work with economists and…