The Future of Work in the AI Era
Techno-utopians and techno-pessimists both seem to agree that artificial intelligence will yield unprecedented productivity gains. If they are right, there is no policy response strong enough to protect people from the alienation and other pathologies associated with sudden, widespread job displacement.
CHICAGO – Recent discussions about the implications of artificial intelligence for employment have veered between the poles of apocalypse and utopia. Under the apocalyptic scenario, AI will displace a large share of all jobs, vastly exacerbating inequality as a small capital-owning class acquires productive surpluses previously shared with human laborers.