Harder better faster stronger : will AI & robots steal our jobs?
(TW : mention of suicide and drug abuse)
The fear that machines might replace us is nothing new. Since the movie “Modern Times” by Charlie Chaplin, it haunts novels, essays and movies. It even goes back to Antiquity, when we wondered if an oxen pulling a plow meant our work force was obsolete.
Now that the robotization of tasks is becoming the norm, we’ve never been so afraid of losing our positions. We ask : “Will these mf robots steal our jobs?” and specialists give us the most alarmist answers. But let’s pause for five minutes and take a look at the situation…
starting with numbers.
According to McKinsey & Cie, 800 million jobs will be automated by 2030. Gartner Inc.’s report about the impact of artificial intelligence on the labor market indicates that in 2020, AI will create 2.3 million jobs, while cutting “only” 1.8 million of them.
By 2021, AI will generate $ 2.9 billion in profit and “replace” 6.2 billion hours of human labor. We hardly apprehend these vertiginous figures.
Historically, economic transitions have always started with a phase of job loss, before other jobs were actually created. The “pivot”, according to estimates, will be 2020. This refers to the switch between the time when AI cuts…
