Last week, the president’s top economic adviser said he had no worries about AI or robots coming for American jobs. In fact, Steve Mnuchin claimed that it would be 50 to 100 years from now, before that would even be a problem on the country’s radar. It might be nice to relegate that concern to the proverbial backburner…except, the problem isn’t a future issue: it’s already happening, and it may even affect American workers disproportionately, compared to those in other countries. The future is here, and it’s going to result in unemployment for a good number of people. If your library is providing job training, it’s time to sit up and take notice of which types of jobs are most at risk.
- Hate to Break It to Steve Mnuchin, But AI’s Already Taking Jobs [WIRED] “Except Mnuchin’s wrong. Like super-wrong. Artificial intelligence is not only coming for jobs, the jobs it’s coming for are the precious few left over after old-school automation already came for so many others. Technologists and economists know this. People who’ve lost jobs to robots and computers already know this. The only people who apparently don’t know it are in the White House. “
- U.S. workers face higher risk of being replaced by robots. Here’s why. [CNN] “Thirty-eight percent of jobs in the U.S. are at high risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence over the next 15 years, according to a new report by PwC. Meanwhile, only 30% of jobs in the U.K. are similarly endangered. The same level of risk applies to only 21% of positions in Japan.”
- Why AI could destroy more jobs than it creates, and how to save them [TechRepublic] “‘These middle-skilled structured tasks, routine information processing tasks will continue to be under a lot of pressure: bookkeepers, travel agents, legal aids — maybe not lawyers or attorneys but the first level associates. I already talked to one big law firm and they said they’re not hiring as many of those sorts of people because a machine can scan through hundreds of thousands or millions of documents and find the relevant information for a case or a trial much more quickly and accurately than a human can,’ said Brynjolfsson.”
- Treasury Secretary Mnuchin says AI taking US jobs is ’50-100 more years’ away — but it’s already beginning to happen [Business Insider] “In other words, although the recent political cycle has focused primarily on manufacturing and construction jobs — and, indeed, those are susceptible to being automated away, according to Frey and Osbourne — this study suggests that they are not the only jobs “at risk.” To take it a step further, this suggests manufacturing jobs are not the only jobs economists, politicians, and policymakers should be focusing on.”
From the Ohio Web Library:
- Artificial intelligence risk to jobs (TAO, L. (2016, October 15). Artificial intelligence risk to jobs. Nelson Mail, The. p. 8.)
- When robots steal your job (GILMORE, S. (2017). When robots steal your job. Maclean’s, 130(1), 8.)
- Artificial Intelligence A Job Killer? Software Developers Fear So (BRIAN, D. (2016, March 8). Artificial Intelligence A Job Killer? Software Developers Fear So. Investors Business Daily. p. 1.)
