Can A.I. Be Pro-Worker?

"In recent weeks, remarkable things have been happening on Wall Street. As the major A.I. developers have been rolling out new versions of their models, and new work tools to sit atop them, investors have been knocking down the value of many big and profitable companies over fears that their businesses and employees will be disrupted, or displaced entirely. Hundreds of billions of dollars of value have been wiped out."

"But the gyrations illustrate the power of two assumptions about A.I. that go largely unquestioned, on Wall Street and elsewhere: that the new technology is so powerful that it will transform the economy utterly; and that, despite being designed by humans, it's now a force unto itself, whose progress can't be reshaped or redirected."

"When you think about it, this second assumption is both terrifying and ahistoric. In the paperback edition of their 2023 book, 'Power and Progress: Our Thousand-Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity,' Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, two M.I.T. economists, challenge the notion that technology's trajectory is predetermined and argue for policy interventions."

Recent market volatility driven by AI fears has sparked concerns about mass unemployment and economic disruption. Major companies across software, cybersecurity, and financial sectors have lost significant value due to investor worries about AI-driven job displacement. A financial research firm's projection of white-collar unemployment causing recession intensified these concerns. However, leading economists argue that the assumption AI progress is inevitable and unstoppable is both historically inaccurate and counterproductive. They contend that technology's impact on employment and prosperity is not predetermined but shaped by deliberate policy choices. Rather than accepting displacement as inevitable, policymakers should focus on enhancing jobs and ensuring technology benefits workers broadly.

Read at The New Yorker