Why AI won’t take all of our jobs
History shows that human ingenuity will generate new industries
One of the growing concerns of the 21st century is that artificial intelligence will take over jobs. AI has become one of the most hotly debated subjects. People are talking about it on all ends of the spectrum: from AI having limitless potential, to it bringing the complete destruction of mankind.
Many people are under the assumption that it is inevitable that AI will take over all jobs, causing a massive unemployment crisis across the world. But AI replacing jobs is just another phase in the evolution of mankind and is no different than the many revolutions in labour we have faced in the past.
The industrial revolution and the information revolution were both deeply transformative and unsettling.
During the industrial revolution, many believed that technological innovations would displace many people’s jobs. They were absolutely right, jobs were replaced. Goods and people were transported by train rather than by animal. Cars replaced horses, and more people started travelling by air than by water. Although jobs were replaced, a new set of jobs was discovered. There was more demand for train conductors, pilots and engineers that knew how to deal with new equipment and technology.
Mechanical engineers are the ones that work in many of these newly-created fields, and it’s now one of the most in demand engineering disciplines in the labour force. Without the industrial revolution, some of the fields such as auto and aerospace wouldn’t be as successful today.
Again, during the information revolution, people were afraid that computers, data management programs and software would replace jobs. And again, we can see the same pattern. Some jobs have been lost, but they have been replaced often manyfold by other careers.
Many of the world’s richest people have made their money from technology companies that capitalized off the development of computers and the Internet. Not only that, the Internet has produced many more jobs that wouldn’t have existed 10 years ago. Jobs in fields such as software engineering, computer science, app development, drone technology, Internet content, marketing and more.
The rise of the robots is now being termed the “robotic revolution” by many. It is now considered a given that autonomous vehicles will eventually replace many taxis and truck drivers. But because of the robotic revolution, there will be new jobs and fields that haven’t been discovered yet. Eventually, professional institutions will offer robotic engineering as part of their engineering programs to teach a new generation on how to be employed in this new era.
Because of the many technological innovations mankind has made in the last two centuries, it’s hard to believe that the robotic revolution can cause massive unemployment.
History has proven time and time again that human inventiveness continues to triumph.
However, we shouldn’t always assume that a past technological shift is directly comparable to a future technological shift. That being said, mankind has always found a way to find new jobs once the old jobs have gone.
Many people say: “this time it’s different”. And yes, there is a slight possibility that this revolution is an outlier compared to the others and is the end of jobs. We’ll just have to wait and see.
