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My first paper was about AI being a Frankenstein’s Monster and how it could mature to the point where we become the slaves to it. However, in this paper, I would like to explore the more immediate impact AI could have on jobs and the job market. It appears to me that it is inevitable that AI will have an effect on how we perform our jobs.
With this in mind, I have a few questions about AI's impact on the job market.
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How could AI be helpful or hurtful for both employers and employees?
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What will be the financial impact of replacing human workers with AI?
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How will the introduction of AI into the job market impact jobs and job availability?
- Who is responsible for the welfare of those who cannot find work as they have been displaced by AI?
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Taxpayers?
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Companies?
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No one?
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What solutions have been proposed?
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This topic is very personal to me as the jobs I have held all have a direct connection to technology, and the further progression of AI could result in my work, causing people to lose jobs. It also has the potential to affect nearly everyone I know in one form or another as AI progresses to be able to perform jobs that once required a professional to do. My cousin, who works as a long-haul truck driver, my grandmother, who works in logistics and even my mother, who works in job placement all could have their careers upended by the introduction of AI.
Part II
The research process for this topic was more difficult than first expected. I knew that due to the subject matter of the topic that some of the articles I would research would be opinionated. I did not, however, realize just how many of them would be. I thought that one of the best places to find objective research would be in academic or industry papers in Google Scholar. However, even some of the articles there are not free from opinions or are sponsored by businesses that have a connection to the technology industry and AI development. Many of the web articles outside of Google Scholar have the same issue, they are either extremely biased as they are being sponsored by a company with a vested interest in AI, or they are opinions of people that do not have any background in the field of AI. I settled on my seven articles as they pass my baloney detection kit. While some of them have an inherent bias, they all use credible information and have credible sources. I also found it interesting how recent all of the articles I came across were. Another interesting thing I discovered while researching for this project is that while there are plenty of older articles about automation in the workplace, it seems that in the past three years, people have started to take the replacement of human workers by AI more seriously.
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Part III
Part IV
Works Cited
Frangoul, Anmar. “Artificial Intelligence Will Create More Jobs than It Destroys? That's What PwC Says.” CNBC, CNBC, 17 July 2018, https://www.cnbc.com/2018/07/17/artificial-intelligence-to-create-more-jobs-than-it-destroys-pwc-says.html.
This source was one of the first that I ran across when looking for AI job creation that came from a mostly unbiased source. PwC is a auditing firm and their job is to look at the hard figures and draw conclusions from them. They are not a company like Apple or Tesla who would benefit from telling people that there is nothing to fear from AI in the job market.
Taddonio, Patrice. “Could the Rise of Artificial Intelligence Put Truckers' Jobs in Peril?” PBS, Public Broadcasting Service, 5 Nov. 2019, https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/could-the-rise-of-artificial-intelligence-put-truckers-jobs-in-peril/.
This was an interesting find. Coming from PBS it is a publicly owned service and also not a corporation. This article and attached video clearly tried to pull at the heartstrings. However, the information that was discussed was relevant and they did preform interviews with people on both sides, both a technology firm creating self driving vehicles and a truck driver.
Wladawsky-Berger, Irving. “The Impact of Artificial Intelligence on the World Economy.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, 26 Nov. 2018, https://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2018/11/16/the-impact-of-artificial-intelligence-on-the-world-economy/.
In this article from The Wall Street Journal I learned a lot about how much AI could impact the world economy. The author is from a technology background having worked for IBM and is now is a research affiliate for MIT in the Sloan School of Management. Based off of his background coupled with the professional tone of the article and the publication itself lead me to trust this source.
Anderson, Mark. “Full Page Reload.” IEEE Spectrum: Technology, Engineering, and Science News, 22 Nov. 2019, https://spectrum.ieee.org/tech-talk/robotics/artificial-intelligence/ai-and-the-future-of-work-the-economic-impact-of-artificial-intelligence.
This source gave me the most trouble when considering on whether or not I should trust it. It comes from the IEEE organization. IEEE is responsible for a lot of standardization when it comes to the technology industry. However, the panel is from an MIT conference not an IEEE one and was diverse with both technology and business leaders.
Marr, Bernard. “Artificial Intelligence In The Workplace: How AI Is Transforming Your Employee Experience.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 6 June 2019, https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2019/05/29/artificial-intelligence-in-the-workplace-how-ai-is-transforming-your-employee-experience/#731f2a153cec.
This article gave me some insight on some positive aspects of AI's place in business. It shows a hopeful outlook while also acknowledging that AI could still be used to replace workers. It comes from Forbes which is a respectable publication.
Krasadakis, George. “Artificial Intelligence: the Impact on Employment and the Workforce.” Medium, Ideachain, 20 Sept. 2019, https://medium.com/ideachain/artificial-intelligence-3c6d80072416.
Unlike the above article this article is a little bit more down to earth with what jobs are at risk of being lost to AI. However, it does call for action with a few ideas on how to help mitigate disaster from a AI driven job market such as more advanced technological education in schools.
da Costa, Pedro Nicolaci. “Robots Are Going to Take a Lot of Jobs - Here's What We Could Do about It.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 30 Apr. 2017, https://www.businessinsider.com/policy-responses-to-automation-and-robots-taking-jobs-2017-4.
This article was the most interesting in my search for the answer to, who will pay for those who have lost their jobs due to AI. This article comes from Business Insider and the author Pedro Nicolaci da Costa while not only being a senior correspondent for Business Insider is also well respected member in the business community.