The age of AI has arrived. Elon Musk is now on track to become the world’s first trillionaire as he focuses on AI robots that will replace most human jobs. AI expectations are driving sector stocks higher. News headlines are full of stories about how companies innovate by constantly improving the efficiency and capabilities of AI, such as ChatGPT and Grammarly, which are quickly becoming everyday tools. These tools modify our writing, improve our information gathering, and connect us in new ways never before thought possible (including making the sentences I type better without changing my intent or original voice).
But no one talks about the most fundamental change to our society: how people will earn a living if their jobs are replaced by AI. For example, Amazon, which has grown to nearly 1.3 million employees amid the demands of the coronavirus, has just announced tens of thousands of layoffs, with advances in AI being partially credited (or blamed). Amazon is already responding to economists’ predictions that the first wave of AI job replacement will begin now and accelerate over the next few years, leaving millions of the lowest-skilled, lowest-paid, mostly hourly workers in grocery stores, factories, warehouses, and quick-service restaurants. The fundamental question is how our society will change to care for the people whose lives will be helped or disrupted by AI.
To answer questions about AI replacing unemployed people with income and employment, I asked ChatGPT, the AI ​​itself. Ironically, the first sentence of the response from ChatGPT was a rare, unsourced, human observation: “That’s a very important and, frankly, urgent question.” We agree that even the most ingrained AI tools in our society have insights into the future, and we urgently need to work to answer those questions as AI replaces many jobs.
McKinsey and other sources With current technological advances, 60% of industries say they have the potential to replace 30% of the tasks performed by humans, either immediately or in the next few years. That’s today! Other reports and experts predict that most occupations will face full or partial automation by AI between 2030 and 2060, adding to the urgency of this issue. To put the impact into perspective, the current generation of individuals who enter the workforce with degrees and vocational certifications will experience full or partial impact on their chosen profession by the time they reach age 30, and in some cases more than once during their working lives. With advances in AI, humanity needs to adapt to the latest technological revolution and move towards income replacement solutions and new job creation as soon as possible.
Reliable sources such as the World Economic Forum and PwC estimate that: Hundreds of millions of people could be affected over the next few yearsBut they are bullish that AI will create many new jobs. Still, they acknowledge that transition gaps can be significant due to geographically excluded jobs, jobs that require entirely new training and education, and a lack of new jobs to fill gaps between sectors. Without a doubt, Occupations most directly affected Many of them lack the skills to transition or acquire new skills, live paycheck to paycheck, and are at the lower end of the economic scale, where even a day without work can mean the difference between barely surviving and becoming destitute.
Whether or not we believe displaced employers will quickly find new jobs, projections consistently show large gaps, primarily in technology fields and sectors. There will be a gap between the geographical spread of job losses and the geographical concentration of new job creation. There will be a gap in both time and money for those whose jobs are excluded to recalibrate to have the opportunity to move into new AI-created jobs with completely different skill set requirements. The gap between the wealthy few who control corporations and benefit from the introduction of AI and job cuts and the much larger population and the excluded at the bottom of the economy will continue to widen.
If you don’t want mass poverty and unrest, there is only one solution. Society must help society. More specifically, the wealthiest citizens and companies that deploy and benefit from AI at the expense of their customers must consider their economic and moral obligations to support displaced people and those in transition. Some governments and EU member states, such as Finland, Canada and South Korea, are piloting support programs to help citizens affected by AI with wage supplements and negative income taxes to boost their incomes to a livable level. Universal basic income, or a similar level above the poverty level. Massive retraining programs and grants in emerging areas of need, such as healthcare, green energy, and other areas where AI technology lags behind human functioning. And, among other things, there is public investment in community service jobs, from home health care to infrastructure, learning and climate resilience programs.
In the United States, the world’s most important innovator and home to many AI breakthroughs, our government is politically divided over the fundamentals of constitutional law and equality, and addressing the urgent changes at hand is far from a top priority. Even more alarming is that the U.S. budget deficit continues to widen, primarily by giving tax breaks to a growing number of wealthy people (including all AI innovators) while cutting critical health care, food, education, and housing programs that support the poorest and those most vulnerable to AI. The lack of financial obligation among the wealthy, led by Elon Musk himself, is one thing. Even more alarming is the lack of moral responsibility, which puts the country and the world on a collision course with the very AI that promises better lives for all involved.
Just as the United States launched a voting revolution centered on affordability in the 2025 election, we must make immediate disruption of AI a top priority. We all need to start talking about how to care for displaced people with basic income, retraining and new employment opportunities, and see news media coverage. We need to start looking at solutions, even if it means reversing tax relief policies to fund programs for companies displaced by AI and regulated to financially support those who have lost their jobs to AI until they can rebuild and replace their incomes, health insurance, and jobs. Each of us needs to start looking at our own professions and jobs and prepare for when AI replaces and transforms. This means either recalibrating within the job to ensure survival or refocusing on training new AI capabilities for the new job.
And finally, for now, our society needs to elect politicians who will make investing in AI an equal priority to the other issues we face. With a strong moral responsibility to care for one another, coupled with an accompanying economic focus, we can fully realize the direct benefits of AI for all humans. Now is the time!
Michael Dru Kelley is an author, media entrepreneur, co-founder and major LGBTQ+ shareholder of equalpride, publisher of The Advocate. You can follow Michael on Instagram @cleanfoodscook and find his upcoming food brands, social handles, and cookbooks at www.comfortfoodsmadeclean.com. His opinion articles represent his own views and do not necessarily represent the views of Equal Pride, its affiliates, partners, or management.
Source: Advocate.com – www.advocate.com
