Tag: jobs

Impact of AI on jobs today

Posted on by Missy Lafferty in AI February

Last week I shared a 2013 article from Mother Jones about the fears of job automation. This week I want to share an article from LinkedIn about how this is now our reality.

This September 2018 post leans on LinkedIn data and the World Economic Forum Future of Jobs report to show some trends of the entrance of AI across industries.

An interesting highlight from the article is a comparison of the occupations with the highest and lowest growth over the past five years.

Image via LinkedIn

Among the highest growing jobs are Human Resources Specialist and Recruiter, which this article suggests are inherently difficult to automate and therefore less likely to see the impacts of AI.

These roles require an understanding of human behaviors and preferences—a skill set which fundamentally can’t be automated.

Igor Perisic, “How artificial intelligence is already impacting today’s jobs,” LinkedIn

I would agree that the top jobs on this list do require an understanding of human behavior that may insulate them in some ways. However, the growth of these jobs also increases the pressure to ensure they are as efficient as possible, and that is the benefit of applying AI in these fields.

Robots will take our jobs

Posted on by Missy Lafferty in AI February

Is artificial going to displace humans? I hear this concern a lot and this article in Mother Jones does a good job articulating the reality of robot colleagues.

Illustration by Roberto Parada

I realize now that a lot of these projections about the rapid acceleration of computer learning rely on Moore’s Law – the historically-true law that computing power (in the original case, transistors) double about every two years). However, Moore’s Law may eventually break down, and outcomes of advancement don’t always match our expectation. For instance, the rise of the computer age led many to assume that paper would soon be phased out… yet we are using more of it than ever.

The most interesting section of this article was the markers we should look for if AI really is taking our jobs:

  • A steady decline in the share of the population that’s employed
  • Fewer job openings than in the past
  • Middle-class incomes flatten in a race to the bottom
  • Corporations stockpile more cash and invest less in new products and factories
  • Labor’s share of national income decline and capital’s share rise

And… hmm. A few markers there but 2019 is looking a bit better than 2013 when this article was published.