Commentary
Artificial intelligence (AI) has created some enthusiasm and even more fear. The fears center partly on matters of privacy and the upending of social relationships but mostly on job destruction.
Such concerns are far from new. They have emerged with every technological advance since the industrial revolution began in the late 18th century. They are an old story attached by today’s commentators to something otherwise very new. If this technological history has anything to teach, it is that both hopes and fears about AI are overstated.
The latest example of how job loss dominates commentary comes through the strike among Hollywood writers. The strikers are, of course, concerned with wages, but they also fear that ChatGPT and like AI applications will replace human writers. Surveys universally show similar concerns about AI applications in all industries. The prestigious investment bank, Goldman Sachs, predicts that AI will bring the loss or degrading of some 300 million jobs. Many attach such fears to warnings of mass unemployment and the need for a universal basic income (UBI) to alleviate the ensuing poverty. Leaders in the tech sector seem especially concerned….