AI for People and Business

Chapter 15. The Impact of AI on Jobs

The power and promise of AI is huge for both people and businesses alike, although applications of AI should take into account human needs, wants, and psychology. The goal of this chapter is to discuss the potential impact of AI in the context of human needs as related specifically to jobs.

AI, Job Replacement, and the Skills Gap

One of the biggest concerns about AI that I hear from people—aside from killer AI robots taking over the world—is the fear of losing jobs, a topic definitely worth examining further. When humans believe that their ability to meet their basic needs is under threat, a fight-or-flight response usually ensues. In the context of AI, a flight response is probably well suited for a terminator or killer robot–like scenario, but we’re not even close to that yet, and might never be. So fight responses, usually in the form of fear or pushback, are the most common at this time.

Although some jobs are being replaced now by AI and/or automation, and others might be replaced in the future, we are currently nowhere near job replacement happening on a mass scale in the immediate future. The vast majority of people and companies pursuing AI are interested in other applications such as augmented intelligence. Also, according to Erik Brynjolfsson, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, “Even with rapid advances, AI won’t be able to replace most jobs anytime soon. But in almost every industry, people using AI are starting ...