There is still fierce debate about the impact that artificial intelligence will have on jobs. Some believe that AI will replace many jobs and lead to the requirement of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), while others claim it will primarily offer assistance to help workers be more productive.

Dorsey is a respected technologist with a deep understanding of emerging technologies. Aside from creating Twitter, he also founded Square which is currently pushing the mass adoption of blockchain-based digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Yang was seen as the presidential candidate for technologists before he suspended his campaign in February, with The New York Times calling him “The Internet’s Favorite Candidate” and his campaign was noted for its “tech-friendly” nature. The entrepreneur, lawyer, and philanthropist founded Venture for America, a non-profit which aimed to create jobs in cities most affected by the Great Recession. In March, Yang announced the creation of the Humanity Forward non-profit which is dedicated to promoting the ideas during his presidential campaign.

Jobs are now very much at threat once again; with the coronavirus wiping out all job gains since the Great Recession over a period of just four weeks. If emerging technologies such as AI do pose a risk to jobs, it could only compound the problem further.

In an episode of the Yang Speaks podcast, Dorsey warns that AI will pose a particular threat to entry-level programming jobs. However, even seasoned programmers will have their worth devalued.

“A lot of the goals of machine learning and deep learning is to write the software itself over time so a lot of entry-level programming jobs will just not be as relevant anymore,” Dorsey told Yang.

Yang is a proponent of a UBI. Dorsey said that such free cash payments could provide a “floor” for if people lose their jobs due to automation. Such free cash wouldn’t allow for luxurious items and holidays, but would ensure that people can keep a roof over their heads and food on the table.

UBI would provide workers with “peace of mind” that they can “feed their children while they are learning how to transition into this new world,” Dorsey explains.

Critics of UBI argue that such a permanent scheme would be expensive.

The UK is finding that out to some extent currently with its coronavirus furlough scheme. Under the scheme, the state will pay 80 percent of a worker’s salary to prevent job losses during the crisis. However, it’s costing approximately £14 billion per month and is expected to be wound down in the coming months due to being unsustainable.

However, some kind of UBI system is appearing increasingly needed.

In November, the Brookings Institute published a report (PDF) which highlights the risk AI poses to jobs. 

“Workers with graduate or professional degrees will be almost four times as exposed to AI as workers with just a high school degree. Holders of bachelor’s degrees will be the most exposed by education level, more than five times as exposed to AI than workers with just a high school degree,” the paper says.

In their analysis, the Brookings Institute ranked professions by their risk from AI exposure. Computer programmers ranked third, backing Dorsey’s prediction, just behind market research analysts and sales managers.

(Image Credit: Jack Dorsey by Thierry Ehrmann under CC BY 2.0 license)

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The speech, titled Surviving the Century, kicked off the 2019/20 season of the Perimeter Institute Public Lecture Series. Rees highlighted some of the dangers facing humanity, the outlook for humans venturing to other planets, and the use of technology to become a “post-human” species.

AI will destroy some existing jobs. There is, however, a fierce industry debate around just how many jobs are at risk and whether AI will create enough new roles to replace them.

“Will this new age be like earlier disruptive technologies – the car for instance – and create as many jobs as it destroys, or will it be different this time?” questions Rees.

The other big uncertainty is whether newly-created jobs will be accessible to anyone but the most academic in society. As such, the rapid pace of AI advancements risks increasing the divide between the richest and poorest.

Established businesses can afford to reap the benefits of automation while replacing people whose livelihoods depend on them. Small businesses will struggle to afford the technologies afforded by more established players and therefore will face even more of a battle to be competitive. Poorer families will find it more difficult to ensure members of their household are equipped with the skills they need to succeed.

“The money earned by robots will clearly generate huge wealth for an elite of individuals and companies,” Rees says. “To preserve a healthy society will require a massive redistribution of that income to ensure that everyone has at least a living wage.”

A living wage has been mulled for a long time but has re-emerged alongside the debate surrounding AI’s impacts. Advocates believe a living wage offers a guaranteed basic standard of living for everyone while opponents argue that it provides little incentive to work and is economically unsustainable.

Rees clearly understands both arguments and proposes that “everyone has a living wage, but this shouldn’t be a handout. It should be achieved by creating huge numbers of upgraded public service jobs where the human element is crucial and which are now undervalued, and where demand is huge.“

The initial countries Rees sees such a guaranteed job scheme happening in are China, Scandinavia, and Canada. However, he argues that he sees it less likely to happen in countries “that fetish low tax rates” such as the UK and US.

AI will have a huge impact on our societies and it’s becoming increasingly clear it needs to be matched by radical changes to how economies work. The template proposed by Rees sounds like one of the most plausible suggestions yet.

(Image Credit: Starmus2017_Martin Rees_KD by Kai T. Dragland / NTNU under CC BY-SA 2.0 license)

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Fountech.ai surveyed more than 2,000 people and found over two-thirds (67%) are concerned about the impact of artificial intelligence on their careers. Just one in three (31%) believe AI will not be able to replicate the cognitive abilities of humans.

In a recent interview on the Pocket-lint podcast, Dr Alex Allan, CTO and Founder of London-based AI startup Kortical, gave some interesting views on the subject.

“You always see jobs opening up in previous industrial revolutions, but I think at some point AI is going to be capable of doing pretty much anything,” explains Allan.

“There will be challenges of how we transition from a society where everyone has to have a job, to one where potentially you might not need that many jobs that directly influence the economy. It doesn’t mean there might not be jobs, but the jobs that did exist wouldn’t have to impact the economy in the same way it does at the moment.”

Another finding in Fountech.ai’s study is that just over half (58%) find algorithms which make recommendations, such as what to buy or watch next, ‘creepy’.

If there’s a silver lining in the research, it’s that AI has made 59 percent of the respondents more careful and aware of how their data is being collected and used. However, given the viral popularity of FaceApp recently – despite serious concerns around its data collection – it doesn’t seem to be holding many back.

Doom-mongering quotes from leading tech figures like Elon Musk, combined with sci-fi flicks like Terminator, appear to have a small proportion (24%) of the population concerned about AI posing an existential threat to humankind.

Overall, a healthy majority (62%) believe AI will do more good than harm. Around three-quarters (74%) want the UK government to do more to regulate AI and help to prevent its potential negative societal impacts.

It’s worth noting, as AI News reported yesterday, that Gartner believes artificial intelligence will predominantly support human decisions in existing jobs rather than replace them.

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The use of AI to increase productivity rather than replace human workers will help to quell some fears around the adoption of artificial intelligence.

Svetlana Sicular, Research Vice President at Gartner, said:

“Augmented intelligence is all about people taking advantage of AI.

As AI technology evolves, the combined human and AI capabilities that augmented intelligence allows will deliver the greatest benefits to enterprises.”

Gartner is predicting the adoption of AI will generate $2.9 trillion in business value in 2021. Furthermore, it will deliver the equivalent of 6.2 billion hours of worker productivity over the same timeframe.

Currently, the leading business value of AI is decision support/augmentation, followed by agents. By 2030, Gartner predicts this overall ranking will remain the same but the gap between will grow significantly with decision support/augmentation accounting for 44 percent of business value, and agents representing 24 percent.

“The excitement about AI tools, services and algorithms misses a crucial point: The goal of AI should be to empower humans to be better, smarter and happier, not to create a ‘machine world’ for its own sake,” added Sicular. “Augmented intelligence is a design approach to winning with AI, and it assists machines and people alike to perform at their best.”

Decision support/augmentation will have little impact on the workforce, but that doesn’t mean workers have nothing to fear. Agents, the second biggest expected driver of business value, will inevitably cause some job losses.

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Feige had just finished giving a talk entitled ‘Fairness in AI: Latest developments in AI safety’ at this year’s AI Expo Global. We managed to grab him to get more of his thoughts on the issue.

Rightfully, people are becoming increasingly concerned about unfair and unsafe AIs. Human biases are seeping into algorithms which poses a very real danger that prejudices and oppression could become automated by accident.

AI News reported last week on research from New York University that found inequality in STEM-based careers is causing algorithms to work better or worse for some parts of society over others.

Similar findings, by Joy Buolamwini and her team from the Algorithmic Justice League, highlighted a disparity in the effectiveness of the world’s leading facial recognition systems between genders and skin tones.

In an ideal world, all parts of society would be equally represented tomorrow. The reality is that issue is going to take much longer to rectify, but AI technologies are becoming increasingly used across society today.

AI News asked Feige for his perspective and how the impact of that problem can be reduced much sooner.

“I think the most important thing for organisations to do is to spend more time thinking about bias and on ensuring that every model they build is unbiased because a demographically disparate team can build non-disparate tech.”

Some companies are seeking to build AIs which can scan for bias in other algorithms. We asked Feige for his view on whether he believes this is an ideal solution.

“Definitely, I showed one in my talk. We have tests for: You give me a black box algorithm, I have no idea what your algorithm does – but I can give an input, calculate the output, and I can just tell you how biased it is according to various definitions of bias.”

“We can go even further and say: Let’s modify your algorithm and give it back so it’s unbiased according to one of those definitions.”

In the Western world, we consider ourselves fairly liberal and protective of individual freedoms. China, potentially the world’s leader in AI, has a questionable human rights record and is known for invasive surveillance and mass data collection. Meanwhile, Russia has a reputation for military aggression which some are concerned will drive its AI developments. Much of the Middle East, while not considered leaders in AI, is behind most of the world in areas such as female and gay rights.

We asked Feige for his thoughts on whether these regional attitudes could find their way into AI developments.

“It’s an interesting question. It’s not that some regions will take the issue more or less seriously, they just have different … we’ll say preferences. I suspect China takes surveillance and facial recognition seriously – more seriously than the UK – but they do so in order to leverage it for mass surveillance, for population control.”

“The UK is trying to walk a fine line in efficiently using that very useful technology but not undermine personal privacy and freedom of individuals.”

During his talk, Feige made the point that he’s less concerned about AI biases due to the fact that – unlike humans – algorithms can be controlled.

“This is a real source of optimism for me, just because human decision-making is incredibly biased and everyone knows that.”

Feige asked the audience to raise a hand if they were concerned about AI bias which prompted around half to do so. The same question was asked regarding human bias and most of the room had their hand up.

“You can be precise with machine learning algorithms. You can say: ‘This is the objective I’m trying to achieve, I’m trying to maximise the probability of a candidate being successful at their job according to historical people in their role’. Or, you can be precise about the data the model is trained on and say: ‘I’m going to ignore data from before this time period because things were ‘different’ back then’”.

“Humans have fixed past experiences they can’t control. I can’t change the fact my mum did most of the cooking when I was growing up and I don’t know how it affects my decision-making.”

“I also can’t force myself to hire based on success in their jobs, which I try to do. It’s hard to know if really I just had a good conversation about the football with the candidate.”

Faculty, of which Feige has the role of head of research, is a European company based in London. With the EU Commission recently publishing its guidelines on AI development, we took the opportunity to get his views on them.

“At a high-level, I think they’re great. They align quite a bit with how we think about these things. My biggest wish, whenever a body like that puts together some principles, is that there’s a big gap between that level of guidelines and what is useful for practitioners. Making those more precise is really important and those weren’t precise enough by my standards.”

“But not to just advocate putting the responsibility on policymakers. There’s also an onus on practitioners to try and articulate what bias looks like statistically and how that may apply to different problems, and then say: ‘Ok policy body, which of these is most relevant and can you now make those statements in this language’ and basically bridge the gap.”

Google recently created, then axed, a dedicated ‘ethics board’ for its AI developments. Such boards seem a good idea but representing society can be a minefield. Google’s faced criticism for having a conservative figure with strong anti-LGBTQ and immigrant views on the board.

Feige provided his take on whether companies should have an independent AI oversight board to ensure their developments are safe and ethical.

“To some degree, definitely. I suspect there are some cases you want that oversight board to be very external and like a regulator with a lot of overhead and a lot of teeth.”

“At Faculty, each one of our product teams has a shadow team – which has practically the same skill set – who monitor and oversee the work done by the project team to ensure it follows our internal set of values and guidelines.”

“I think the fundamental question here is how to do this in a productive way and ensure AI safety but that it doesn’t grind innovation to a halt. You can imagine where the UK has a really strong oversight stance and then some other country with much less regulatory oversight has companies which become large multinationals and operate in the UK anyway.”

Getting the balance right around regulation is difficult. Our sister publication IoT News interviewed a digital lawyer who raised the concern that Europe’s strict GDPR regulations will cause AI companies in the continent to fall behind their counterparts in Asia and America which have access to far more data.

Feige believes there is the danger of this happening, but European countries like the UK – whether it ultimately remains part of the EU and subject to regulations like GDPR or not – can use it as an opportunity to lead in AI safety.

Three reasons are provided why the UK could achieve this:

1. The UK has significant AI talent and renowned universities.
2. It has a fairly unobjectionable record and respected government (Feige clarifies in comparison to how some countries view the US and China).
3. The UK has a fairly robust existing regulatory infrastructure – especially in areas such as financial services.

Among the biggest concerns about AI continues to be around its impact on the workforce, particularly whether it will replace low-skilled workers. We wanted to know whether using legislation to protect human workers is a good idea.

“You could ask the question a hundred years ago: ‘Should automation come into agriculture because 90 percent of the population works in it?’ and now it’s almost all automated. I suspect individuals may be hurt by automation but their children will be better off by it.”

“I think any heavy-handed regulation will have unintended consequences and should be thought about well.”

Our discussion with Feige was insightful and provided optimism that AI can be developed safely and fairly, as long as there’s a will to do so.

You can watch our full interview with Feige from AI Expo Global 2019 below:

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The career boasts a current average salary of $146,085 with a growth rate of 344 percent last year.

Tech-related jobs, in general, continue to be winners. Indeed set out to find the top 25 jobs for 2019 in their report and nine of them are comprised of tech roles.

Roles such as software developer continue to rank highly due to a high number of job openings, but machine learning engineer roles claim the number one spot due to higher salaries and faster growth.

A second AI-related job sits just outside the top 10. At number 13, ‘Computer Vision Engineer’ has a higher average base salary ($158,303)  than a machine learning engineer, but is ranked lower due to slower growth (116%).

Here’s the full list of top jobs in Indeed’s report:

Due to the increasing use of AI in companies’ operations, the report expects this growth to continue accelerating in the coming years.

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The keynote featured IBM’s SVP of Global Business Services, Mark Foster; the EU’s Digital Economy and Society Commissioner, Mariya Gabriel; and the Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Angel Gurria.

Foster opened the session with a foreboding tone: “What we want to talk about is something very serious and I think critical to acceptance of all the great technology we’re looking at outside this building.”

A glance around the exhibition floors shows how AI and the IoT are maturing. In fact, this event is less about mobile technology than it’s ever been.

This year, MWC has employed an opt-in facial recognition system from Breez to enable attendees to access the venue. It was incredibly quick, but there’s a definite unease about how that data is being stored and used.

Building trust will be essential to ensure the full potential of such technologies can be unlocked. Another technology emerging, the blockchain, will help with the security aspects.

Foster notes how we’re at an inflexion point in technology with AI, the IoT, 5G, and blockchain converging to unlock an immeasurable number of possibilities.

“With the combination of AI, automation, blockchain, 5G… we’re at a time when there’s a convergence coming together at scale for one of those moments which changes how business gets done,” he says.

By mitigating the risks, these technologies can benefit mankind. A failure to do so, however, could be devastating and will damage trust.

“We’re seeing a fantastic capacity to take advantage of so many amazing new technologies,” he comments. “We’re also facing a time when people are more concerned than ever about the implications of abusing those technologies.”

Some of the considerations Foster highlights include data privacy, inclusiveness, and ensuring we do not expand the digital divide.

IBM recently conducted some research in which it talked with some 1,200 CEOs around the world and found data responsibility was the number one AI issue on their minds. Some 91 percent said they expected new demands from their customers about the ethical way they’re introducing AI. 92 percent said they expected more regulation.

Foster was followed by a couple of individuals representing two institutions exploring such regulations. The first was Mariya Gabriel who is the EU’s digital economy and society commissioner.

The EU is investing heavily in digital technologies. In fact, Gabriel claims the bloc’s €4 billion 5G investment represents the largest in the world. She points towards an ongoing 139 5G trials as world-leading, and that 10 cross-border 5G motorways are now open.

“IoT, AI, 5G, big data, are all part of what will be the future of our industries. All industries. This is a fact,” says Gabriel. “We need to reap its opportunities, mitigate its risks, and make sure it’s respectful of our values as much as driven by innovation.”

You won’t hear the EU speak much without talking about values. It’s often debated how much the EU practices what it preaches, but it’s making a clear effort with AI to develop some ground rules. What it won’t do is rush headfirst into deployments.

“When 5G becomes mission critical, it needs to be secure,” comments Gabriel. “Nobody is helped by premature decisions.”

The EU is enlisting 52 experts to develop guidelines on the ethical implementation of AI. An initial version was published last December and it was opened up for comments on 1st February 2019. Over 500 have been received so far.

Gabriel says the next step is a trial phase for the guidelines. The goal, she claims, is to make ‘ ’ AI a reality. She hails the digital single market as tearing down things like roaming charges, while GDPR is becoming a ‘world reference’ (her words, not mine.)

“Europe has to have a common approach or there’s a risk of fragmentation,” says Gabriel. “Diverging decisions taken by member states trying to protect themselves we know damages the digital single market.”

While the EU is concentrating on Europe, other institutions are looking to influence global policies in world-changing innovations such as AI.

Next on the agenda was a representative from one such institution. Angel Gurria is the Secretary-General of the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development).

Gurria also notes how the ‘rapid digitalisation’ from the aforementioned technologies brings opportunities and challenges. He starts with the benefits of technologies such as AI for things like making better decisions.

“AI is not only dynamising economies and facilitating lives,” says Gurria. “It’s also helping people make better predictions and better decisions; whether it’s the shop floor manager or a doctor in the operating room.”

Gurria transitions into how machines work better with human control, a suggestion they should be designed to enhance productivity rather than replace people. “Less artificial, more intelligent,” he says.

AIs replacing jobs is one of the biggest societal fears. Low-skilled jobs are expected to be most at risk. Some research indicates they’ll create as many as they destroy, but many will find themselves without the skills necessary for these new roles.

Gurria highlights the OECD estimates 14 percent of jobs in the countries it operates are deemed at ‘high risk’ of being replaced by automation. A further 32 percent is considered at risk of ‘significant disruption’ over the next 10-20 years. Added together, close to half the workforce is at risk of being displaced or disrupted.

“Disruption is a good word when you come to these exhibitions,” jokes Gurria. “In the traditional sense, however, it means people are going to feel underqualified after the effects of the technology.”

Another concern raised by Gurria is that of ‘automatised discrimination’ that affects life-changing things for an individual like hiring processes, loan approvals, or even the criminal justice system.

Seeing Gurria follow Gabriel, I couldn’t help but think it seemed like both should be working together on this issue rather than various sets of AI guidelines. As if he could read my thoughts, Gurria says the institutions – including others, not just the EU – speak to each other and it does not mean work is being duplicated.

“I just met with the head of UNESCO, and she has an advisory group too,” explains Gurria. “Now we have three large institutions – one specialised in European issues, UNESCO which is worldwide, and the OECD which is about policies for better lives.”

The OECD is launching the results of its two-year ‘Going Digital’ project at a dedicated summit held between the 11-12th March 2019. At the summit, the project’s main findings and policy messages will be presented.

We’ll have coverage of the OECD’s summit next month, but until then this MWC session gave us all plenty to think about. Primarily, that AI needs to be developed with innovation, values, and trust.

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Retail is a major focus of AI but there’s debate over whether it will have a positive or negative on society, especially with regards to jobs. Some believe AI will assist existing jobs while others take a view it will replace workers.

Capgemini found just one percent of retailers have achieved the level of AI deployment needed to reach its full potential.

Kees Jacobs, VP of Global Consumer Products and Retail Sector at Capgemini, said:

“For global retailers, it appears reality has kicked in regarding AI, both in terms of what the technology can achieve and what they need to do to get there.

Of course, deploying and scaling will be the next big objective, but retailers should be wary not to chase ROI figures without also considering the customer experience.”

Most retailers, according to the researchers, are focusing their efforts on using AI for sales and marketing purposes. The company notes AI has the potential to be used across the value chain.

“Our research shows a clear imbalance of organizations prioritizing cost, data and ROI when deploying AI, with only a small minority considering the customer pain points also,” comments Jacobs.

“These two factors need to be given equal weighting if long-term AI growth, with all of the benefits it brings, is to be achieved.”

400 global retailers who’ve implemented AI were studied for the research; accounting for 23 percent of the global retail market by revenue. Public data from the world’s largest 250 retailers by revenue was also included.

Over a quarter (28%) of retailers had deployed AI in 2018, up from just 17 percent in 2017.

As for the job loss fears, 71 percent of the retailers said AI was creating jobs. However, 68 percent of the roles were of a senior level which could be out the reach of lower-skilled retail workers AI may displace.

Currently, 75 percent report AI has not replaced any jobs in their organisation.

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The simulation run by the McKinsey Global Institute shows artificial intelligence has the possibility to add 1.2 percent to annual gross domestic product growth until at least 2030.

For perspective, that represents $13 trillion of additional global economic activity. Such growth is equivalent to other landmark developments such as that of the steam engine.

AI is among the most sought-after technologies globally. Much like 5G, countries are vying to become leaders in the space.

Russian President Vladimir Putin recently said:

“Artificial intelligence is the future, not only for Russia, but for all humankind. It comes with colossal opportunities, but also threats that are difficult to predict.

Whoever becomes the leader in this sphere will become the ruler of the world.”

China and the US, the world’s largest economies, are the other major players in the AI race who aim to fully utilise the rapidly advancing technology in order to retain their lead.

Beijing has already set out its five-year plan which includes AI. The nation aims to be a leader by 2030.

Compared to the global average, China’s labour productivity is low and the economy is becoming reliant on consumption. Without AI, it’s likely the country will struggle to achieve its target growth rate.

Despite the economic benefits. there continues to be a concern about AI increasing wealth inequality.

“The productivity-enhancing, labour-saving technology is a challenging issue for all of the economies in the world,” Takashi Miwa, chief Japan economist at Nomura, said at a press briefing on Tuesday.

Like many experts, Miwa believes AI poses a threat to low-skilled jobs.

There will also be a severe disparity between countries. According to the McKinsey analysis, developed countries – likely to emerge as AI leaders – are set to benefit economically 20 to 25 percent more than current levels.

Emerging markets could only gain half of that, according to the report.

Are you surprised by the prediction?

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The professional services firm’s analysts predict, in the UK at least, the number of jobs destroyed by AI is likely to be counteracted by the number of roles created.

In fact, over the next 20 years, PwC expects around 7.2 million to be created versus seven million displaced – resulting in a small net jobs growth of around 0.2 million.

Euan Cameron, UK AI leader at PwC, said:

“AI offers a huge potential economic boost to the UK and it’s great to see the government recognise and support the development of the sector through the AI Sector Deal.

People are understandably worried about the impact of AI on jobs, and businesses and the government need to address these concerns head-on. Our research highlights where the biggest impacts will be and which areas are most vulnerable so that businesses and government can plan how best to help people develop the skills that will prepare them for the future.

It’s likely that the fourth industrial revolution will favour those with strong digital skills, as well as capabilities like creativity and teamwork which machines find it harder to replicate.

Historically, rapid technological change has often been associated with increases in wealth and income inequality, so it’s vital that government and business work together to make sure everyone benefits from the positive benefits that AI can bring. These include increased productivity and consumer choice, as well as improved outcomes in those areas that matter most to people such as education to healthcare.”

Many reports until now have taken hardline stances – either AI will drastically alter the jobs market and will require ideas such as UBI (Universal Basic Income) to be considered, or it will simply help to improve the efficiency of existing jobs.

PwC expects certain industries to be ‘winners’ in terms of job growth, while others will lose out.

Winners:

• • Health (+22%)

• • Professional, scientific and technical services (+16%)

• Education (+6%)

Losers:

• • Manufacturing (-25%)

• • Transport and storage (-22%)

• Public administration (-18%)

It’s notable that low-wage jobs are set to lose out the most. This highlights a particular risk to individuals such as factory workers who are most likely to be among the first to be replaced by artificial intelligence.

However, the report notes: “A job being at ‘high risk’ of being automated does not mean that it will definitely be automated, as there could be a range of economic, legal and regulatory and organisational barriers to the adoption of these new technologies.”

John Hawksworth, Chief Economist at PwC, commented:

“Major new technologies, from steam engines to computers, displace some existing jobs but also generate large productivity gains. This reduces prices and increases real income and spending levels, which in turn creates demand for additional workers. Our analysis suggests the same will be true of AI, robots and related technologies, but the distribution of jobs across sectors will shift considerably in the process.

Healthcare is likely to see rising employment as it will be increasingly in demand as society becomes richer and the UK population ages. While some jobs may be displaced, many more are likely to be created as real incomes rise and patients still want the ‘human touch’ from doctors, nurses and other health and social care workers.

On the other hand, as driverless vehicles roll out across the economy and factories and warehouses become increasingly automated, the manufacturing and transportation and storage sectors could see a reduction in employment levels.”

PwC recommends the government invests more in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education to ensure the workforce is prepared for the needs of the future economy, while also increasing the ‘safety net’ for those who struggle to adapt.

Furthermore, the government should implement its AI strategy ‘in full’ to ensure policies support development of the sector and maximise the income effect of the rapidly-advancing technology on jobs in the UK.

The full results can be found in PwC’s UK Economic Outlook July 2018 report which can be found here (PDF)

Do you agree with PwC’s analysis of AI’s impact on the jobs market?

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