Everywhere we look nowadays, we find warnings that artificial intelligence algorithms are coming for our jobs. While Goldman Sachs estimates that two-thirds of all current jobs in the United States and Europe could be “exposed to some degree of AI automation” in the coming years, a report from Pew Research Center puts the figure at closer to one-fifth — with a special emphasis on jobs requiring a college education.
There is a strong consensus that AI algorithms are becoming increasingly capable of performing more tasks far better than humans can, and that this trend will continue indefinitely. Though the future is always uncertain, we are clearly entering a new phase of human development in which AI will play an increasingly central role in our lives, work and world. Its algorithms will not just offer better versions of existing services like internet search; instead, like written language, electricity and computing, they will be woven into almost every aspect of how we interact with each other and the world around us.
The dawn of a new AI age does not mean that dusk is approaching for humans. We humans have always coevolved with our technologies and this time will be no exception.