AI will probably not replace human workers, at least not yet
Afraid that robots are probably coming for your jobs? Fear not, at least not yet.
The way artificial intelligence is being portrayed in the media, particularly in some of those sci-fi movies, is creating fear that this technology will one day replace humans in the workplace. After all, as technology evolves, many tasks that were once executed by human hands have become automated. There is growing unease that the direction toward creating intelligent computers could signal the beginning of the end of work as we know it.
In her 2021 article for Forbes.com, Ashley Stahl said: “But, I don’t think there is any reason to be so fatalistic. A Nov 2020 paper published by the MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) Task Force on the Work of the Future entitled “Artificial Intelligence And The Future of Work,” looked closely at developments in AI and their relation to the world of work. The paper paints a more optimistic picture.”
“Rather than promoting the obsolescence of human labor, the paper predicts that AI will continue to drive massive innovation that will fuel many existing industries and could have the potential to create many new sectors for growth, ultimately leading to the creation of more jobs,” she added.
Stahl further noted: “While AI has made major strides toward replicating the efficacy of human intelligence in executing certain tasks, there are still major limitations. In particular, AI programs are typically only capable of “specialized” intelligence, meaning they can solve only one problem, and execute only one task at a time. Often, they can be rigid, and unable to respond to any changes in input, or perform any “thinking” outside of their prescribed programming.”
“Humans, however, possess “generalized intelligence,” with the kind of problem solving, abstract thinking and critical judgement that will continue to be important in business. Human judgement will be relevant, if not in every task, then certainly throughout every level across all sectors,” she added.
Stahl revealed: “There are many other factors that could limit runaway advancement in AI. AI often requires “learning” which can involve massive amounts of data, calling into question the availability of the right kind of data, and highlighting the need for categorization and issues of privacy and security around such data. There is also the limitation of computation and processing power. The cost of electricity alone to power one supercharged language model AI was estimated at $4.6 million.”
“Another important limitation of note is that data can itself carry bias, and be reflective of societal inequities or the implicit biases of the designers who create and input the data. If there is bias in the data that is inputted into an AI, this bias is likely to carry over to the results generated by the AI,” she added.
Stahl said: “Based on these factors and many others, the MIT CCI paper argues that we are a long way from reaching a point in which AI is comparable to human intelligence, and could theoretically replace human workers entirely.”
“Provided there is investment at all levels, from education to the private sector and governmental organizations—anywhere that focuses on training and upskilling workers—AI has the potential to ultimately create more jobs, not less,” she added.
