224 global investors with more than $100 billion of investable capital say that governments are not prepared for the coming of artificial intelligence and the massive job loss that, they say, will result.
Web Summit, the massive technology conference in Lisbon, Portugal, polled 224 investors face-to-face at Venture, one of the subconferences within the Web Summit framework. 93% of them said that governments are not ready.
A smaller percentage, only 53%, said that it is “inevitable that Artificial Intelligence will destroy millions of jobs.”
Arguably, we’re already seeing this happen. Self-driving cars and trucks are closer and closer every day. Earlier this year, iPhone manufacturer Foxconn replaced 60,000 factory workers with robots. Self-driving tractors are not far behind.
The challenge of new technology and new efficiencies, of course, is that our economy is built on people getting jobs, getting paid, paying taxes, and earning a living. Oxford researchers have estimated that half of all jobs are vulnerable to disruption from artificial intelligence, robots, and automation. In that scenario, massive social change and upheaval would follow, as half of the workforce loses its jobs, and some new kind of social contract — even, perhaps a guaranteed minimum income – could be a necessity.
SOMETHING is going to have to be done. And I seriously doubt that banning automated jobs is going to happen which would be the only other recourse outside of a mandatory minimum wage. Well, there is another but many scoff at the idea. Think Star Trek.