Report dispels AI jobs doomsday fears 

A new Competitive Enterprise Institute report examines what the AI revolution will mean for the future of labor by examining technology disruptions of the past. 

“Technology advances like artificial intelligence can breed fear that ‘progress’ will destroy jobs and livelihoods,” said Sean Higgins, CEI research fellow in labor studies and author of the report, Don’t Panic! A Skeptic’s Guide to the AI Jobs Doomsday. “History teaches us labor-related technology fears are usually misplaced.” 

“Innovation has not, historically, caused widespread unemployment in the broader economy,” said Higgins. “In fact, labor-saving innovations in one industry, like manufacturing, can create new opportunities and jobs in related industries, like service or hospitality.” 

Technology can disrupt jobs, especially when new technologies are designed specifically to replicate and improve upon the most tedious tasks done by humans, the report explains. But it’s not the case that there are fewer jobs because of these advancements – often there are more. 

Consider: 

• New, different jobs are created by automation. For example, in 1913, Henry Ford’s assembly line innovation allowed cars to be produced more quickly with fewer workers. However, the number of automotive manufacturing jobs in the US surged from 175,000 in 1917 to a million by 1979.  

• Unemployment will likely not increase with automation. For example, US unemployment was 5.9 percent in mid-1979 and 5.3 percent by mid-1989. Some manufacturing jobs were lost, but overall unemployment actually declined slightly, despite an increase in labor force.  

• Claims that AI will eliminate certain high-skilled professions have already had a few notable flops. A Nobel Prize–winning AI scientist predicted 10 years ago that radiologists would be replaced by AI. This didn’t happen. Radiology jobs were not lost, and radiologists remain in high demand and are well paid.  

• AI is an invaluable tool that helps human workers. In neurosurgery, AI programs study past surgeries and devise procedures to train new surgeons. The actual medical procedures still require a human surgeon. 

• If the US slows AI development, it risks losing economic leadership to countries that adopt the technology more rapidly. Resistance to automation hurt the Detroit auto industry, but then automation helped save it. 

The report also warns against government controls and restrictions on AI. “The reality is that elected lawmakers and federal regulators typically have a dim understanding of emerging technologies,” said Higgins. “And they certainly have no better ideas than anyone else, including scientists, on how to guide its development.” 

Read Don’t Panic! A Skeptic’s Guide to the AI Jobs Doomsday by Sean Higgins on CEI.org.