Top Highlights

• Today, a new wave of doomsaying has emerged surrounding “technological unemployment” as AI, with its promise of business innovation, has marched to the forefront of economic debate. Pundits argue we’re now drifting towards a “world without work” where machines produce all things and algorithms provide all services. Outclassed humans serve no role i...
• As we argue in Shocks, Crises, and False Alarms, predictions of technology-driven job destruction have a long history and correspondingly, a long record of failure.
• More upbeat assessments contend that AI will augment workers – perhaps the least-skilled ones – rather than replace them.
• Others argue that replacing workers is harder than it seems because jobs are collections of tasks and AI may not be able to do all of them seamlessly.
• What is routinely overlooked is that technology is an inherently deflationary force.

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