Is AI - The collapse or revival of the World Economy?
What is AI?\
Artificial intelligence, more commonly referred to as simply “AI,” is essentially a simulation of human intelligence processes by machines, particularly by computer systems. If the technological breakthrough and processes of the 21st century can be summed up in a single technological phenomenon, look no further than Artificial intelligence. The fascinating and mildly intimidating abilities of such an entity include the fact that AI can easily be trained to perform the same tasks humans are designed to do. The sophistication of such tasks ranges from something as simple as writing a school essay to something as complex as creating musical beats, artworks, and even imitating another person’s appearance and voice. How does this link to the world economy? You might be thinking to yourselves right now. Given the already mentioned fact that AI can perform all sorts of tasks a human can (more efficiently, no less), especially amid an already significant employment crisis throughout the majority of the Western world, you might start to get a sense of what route this conversation is headed towards…
Impacts of AI on the labor market
As of 2023, AI is implemented as a tool of human assistance rather than human replacement in relation to labor markets and places of occupation. On the positive side, one of the AI-generated applications, Chat GPT, has shown to be a viable resource for people working in the white-collar employment sector. Office workers have found the app increasingly beneficial, from the time-management standpoint, in the sense that the long, time-consuming pieces of writing work can now be taken care of by a machine imitating human writing. From that point of view, the involvement of artificial intelligence can be really helpful for those already occupied in a job, especially a writing-oriented job. Now for the downsides - At this moment, the potential negative impacts of the increasing involvement of Artificial Intelligence can be seen as rather hypothetical as opposed to practical, given that we are not at a point where AI has been employed instead of human workers. With that being said, there are genuine reasons for concern regarding the displacement of jobs due to a rise in the involvement of AI. There is a real possibility that some jobs may become extinct, at least for the human population. This is especially true when discussing easily automated jobs like data entry and customer services. Although AI can imitate human characteristics, it does not sense basic human feelings applicable to most workers, such as fatigue, burnout, and stress, largely since AI is solely run on computer-based programs and applications. In light of this “superiority” over the human population, employers may find a greater incentive to employ AI in the place of mistake-prone humans, hence creating grounds for higher unemployment rates over the long term. Much more significant concerns may start to arise if AI develops to the point where it can effortlessly outperform humans in every element of task completion, which is going to essentially make the skills of the human labor sector no longer in demand, subsequently furthering the structural unemployment as a result of the more significant interference of AI in everyday life.
Conclusion
During his speech at Cambridge University in 2016, Stephen Hawking stated, “I believe there is no big difference between what can be achieved by a biological brain and what can be achieved by a computer. It, therefore, follows that computers can theoretically emulate human intelligence — and exceed it”. With that in mind, considering that AI has shown no signs of flaws commonly committed by humans, coupled with the fact that AI-generated programs do not require constant maintenance like a human does, on top of the fact that employing AI in place of humans would, in theory, decrease the costs on the employers’ side of things, there is a reason for concern related to employment for us humans, amid a rise in the significance of AI in the world economy. But do not rush to worry. A lot like previous technological discoveries and advancements did not cause an avalanche of mass unemployment, you can bet the same to be the case with AI. AI can be proven to be a tool for increasing labor productivity, and be the catalyst for massive spurs in other innovations, hence making valuable contributions to the world economy. The involvement of AI in the working environments has all the potential to force humans further to enhance their skills and capabilities at the workplace and subsequently further increase the productivity of the labor force, which in turn opens up doors for a variety of national economic successes, such as increases in the national output. In essence, does AI hold the potential to create inequalities and imbalances and enlarge the extent of challenges faced by the workforce? Absolutely. However, with the competence of the policy-makers to manage the avalanche of technological advances to ensure a productive AI-Human relationship, there is a good chance that the benefits, such as those mentioned above, significantly outweigh the costs and the short-term drawbacks of the impacts of AI on the world economy. Will that be the case? Only time shall tell…
Written by Arsen Ashlayev | Proofread by Yasmin Uzykanova
