Where do humans stand in the developing world of Artificial Intelligence? Will we be safe with our jobs? There are many theories on how Artificial Intelligence will completely reshape our workforce in the sense of where and how people work, if we even do. Many believe the upcoming of Artificial Intelligence will face us with a great danger of one day being left without any jobs. Personally, I believe we are the ones who decide how big of an affect Artificial Intelligence has in our lives. If used properly, we could use Artificial Intelligence to our complete advantage without risking a huge loss in our jobs. Though ultimately some people will have to be left without jobs, it will be much less than when Artificial Intelligence is wrongly used and allowed to take over everything.
Artificial Intelligence is computer systems that are able to take in huge amounts of information at a time from a specific source and perform assignments, that normally would require human intelligence, at a much faster pace, “These tools can outperform human beings at any given task (Lee). But could that be a completely horrible thing?
The future of Artificial Intelligence is a very controversial topic. Technology is something you can see anywhere you go and as the years go by the more it continues to expand to different businesses. We as a society have grown to rely on technology in our everyday lives, whether it be from our alarm clocks, to our stoves, to our phones or to our cars, I would say there are very few people who do not use technology at least once a day. Looking back, technology has come an extraordinarily long way from where it first began back in the 1860s with the creation of the first ever fire extinguisher to where we are now with self-operated machinery.
Though many are afraid of what it may bring, Artificial Intelligence could be something very beneficial not only for companies but also the people. Artificial Intelligence could greatly benefit us in the Air Force. Artificial Intelligence could potentially one day fight our battles for us without us having to endanger our own people. Artificial Intelligence could do our jobs that are dangerous, dirty or just plain boring and repetitive. As of now, technology is still relatively just beginning, but it will only continue to improve, learning as it goes. Artificial Intelligence is far more often freeing workers from menial labor than it is erasing jobs. Another way Artificial Intelligence is very useful is in big companies.
Artificial Intelligence benefits companies by helping them save hundreds of dollars in employee salaries, “State Auto Insurance Companies in Columbus, Ohio, started its first automation pilot project two years ago. Today, it has 30 software programs handling back-office tasks, with an estimated savings of 25,000 hours of human work – or the equivalent of about a dozen full-time workers – on an annualized basis, assuming a standard 2,000-hour work year.” (Lohr). The purpose of operating Artificial Intelligence isn't to diminish jobs but to further productivity and income with limited addition to head count. Robots would take the dreadful time consuming jobs no one would miss doing and allow us to further expand our knowledge and skills by allowing us to focus our attention on higher level tasks, “companies are eager to promote bots as helpful assistants instead of job killers” (Lohr).
In a talk, David Autor explains how the death of work is overly exaggerated, “Almost 50 years after the introduction of the A.T.M, for instance, more humans actually work as bank tellers than ever. The computer simply feed the humans from mind-numbing work to focus on more cognitively demanding tasks”. As of now computers are mainly only observing and learning, following uncomplex rules, and making simple yes or no decision for they are still not capable of making potent choices that require judgment and/or experience.
As of two centuries ago, about 80% of the workforce revolved around agriculture. Since then, there has been technological advancements that have taken over many agricultural tasks causing the steady decrease of employment in farms, leaving only a small percentage of workers in agriculture. Now the question is, will this continue to happen? On the contrary of my beliefs, many believe technology will only continue to make its way through many different professions and eventually take over causing the loss of thousands of jobs. And it isn’t just the working class who is worried, successful entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Bill Gates and Stephen Hawking are also “fearing the ascent of invincible machines” (Williams). But before robots are even able to take over the world by overreaching and annihilating us, Artificial Intelligence, could cause various lines of work to no longer be of use in the next decade or so, and when really thought about that is not a long time away. Jobs like being a radiologist, a surgeon, or even a lawyer are all suddenly looking iffy as A.I. is much more efficient in performing tasks drastically faster than what humans can, “ A much-quoted study by the University of Oxford Department of Engineering Science estimated that 47 percent of current jobs, including insurance underwriter, sports referee and loan officer, are at risk of falling victim to automation, perhaps within a decade or two” (Williams). Around a third of workers in America will have to eventually find other jobs, if any are even left, in the next twelve years or so. In a more recent study mentioned by Lohr, it is predicted that by the year 2021, which is only a short 2 years away, Artificial Intelligence will be performing work that is equal to the work of nearly 4.3 million humans around the world. But in our society that is just not a rational or possible option.
Looking further in to this matter, the people aren’t only afraid of job losses but also the changes that will be brought to our social life. Technology, as it is now, already brings us much trouble with addictive apps on all of our devices. Many today already complain on how the majority of the people, adolescents for the most part, have a hard time separating themselves from their devices. But this all could be transformed again, causing a much bigger impact. Such advancement and changes like these on our social life could one day strip us from our cultural and emotional roots. Another big thing that will change with advancements in Artificial Intelligence is the way our copyright works. Who will the data belong to then, the machine or the creator?
In conclusion, though I can see why people are afraid of what Artificial Intelligence might bring, the idea of leaving thousands without jobs is just a very unrealistic and idiotic thing to let happen. Allowing Artificial Intelligence to take over our jobs would only create a greater difference between the rich and the poor. Owners of companies would gain millions of dollars while all of the workers that are let go would be lunged into poverty. We would have to figure out how to shrink the gap between who can and cannot succeed off of Artificial Intelligence, whether it be people going back to school to be able to get into jobs that technology cannot do such as the ones that require creative thinking or just basic people skills. Another option would be the creation of a form of social welfare where every family receives a certain amount of income, whether it be by weekly or monthly. Ultimately, I think before we can fully predict what our future holds along these machines, we have to become much more knowledgeable in them and grow in understanding of what they are truly capable of in comparison to us. Looking at facts, it is clear to see that technology has very influential effect on us and our everyday lives now more than ever before. But as technology continues to evolve, we will too.