How will AI affect workers? Tech waves of the past show how unpredictable the path can be

The explosion of interest in artificial intelligence has drawn attention not only to the astonishing capacity of algorithms to mimic humans but to the reality that these algorithms could displace many humans in their jobs. The economic and societal consequences could be nothing short of dramatic. The route to this economic transformation is through the workplace. A <a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/generative-ai-could-raise-global-gdp-by-7-percent.html" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">widely circulated Goldman Sachs study</a> anticipates that about two-thirds of current occupations over the next decade could be affected and a quarter to a half of the work people do now could be taken over by an algorithm. Up to 300 million jobs worldwide could be affected. The consulting firm McKinsey <a href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/the-economic-potential-of-generative-ai-the-next-productivity-frontier#introduction" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">released its own study</a> predicting an AI-powered boost of US$4.4 trillion to the global economy every year. The implications of such gigantic numbers are sobering, but how reliable are these predictions? <a href="https://medium.com/the-generator/how-will-ai-affect-workers-tech-waves-of-the-past-show-how-unpredictable-the-path-can-be-3518e111a21a">Learn More</a>