Human Ressource Management

13 The Future of Work


Question

Explain the pessimistic view on the future of work


Answer

-> “This Time Everything Is Different”

  • Counterargument: humans have only three main competencies - physical, cognitive, and emotional
  • In the past, technological changes have either moved humans to other jobs within the same category of competencies (example: from agriculture to manufacturing) or from physical to cognitive and emotional work (example: from manufacturing to services)
  • Currently, in many respects humans are still needed for cognitive and emotional work But advances in machine learning and artificial intelligence may change this:
    • In many cases, algorithms are better than humans at collecting, analyzing, and interpreting information (e.g., for medical diagnoses)
    • Creativity is no longer a uniquely human trait (e.g., AI superiority in chess; soon perhaps also in artistic endeavors)
    • Intuition is mainly pattern recognition (at which AI is increasingly becoming better, relative to humans); this will, over time, extend to understanding and working with human emotions
  • Even high-skill jobs (e.g., lawyers, doctors) are at risk of being taken over by machines
  • AI not only increasingly outperforms humans in previously human skills (physical, cognitive)
  • AI has the additional advantage of updateability (e.g., medicine) and connectivity (e.g., traffic) - these advantages are so substantial that, in some domains, it may make sense to replace all humans by AI (e.g., replacing all human drivers by autonomous vehicles is estimated to reduce traffic fatalities - currently 1.25 million per year - by 90%)



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