James Bessen, Boston U.: What will AI do to our work?

This event is organized as part of ITU's AI for Good Series.

AI technologies have captured the public imagination and raised substantial fears. Many of these fears concern automation as some commentators claim that the large-scale elimination of jobs is imminent. This talk will try to put AI into some context about the things it does and how technologies have operated in the past. As in the past, new technologies such as AI don’t just automate, they also change organizations, the worker skills needed, and they have strong effects on consumers. Automation rarely replaces entire jobs; it typically just automates specific tasks. And when this happens, the remaining tasks – the ones that humans perform – become more valuable and often require new and deeper skills. Moreover, consumer benefits often raise demand dramatically as prices fall and quality improves. Greater demand often increases employment, rather than eliminating it. The talk will look at the long-term consequences of these changes and what the main social challenges are raised by this new technology.