The more time passes, the more artificial intelligence becomes perfect and the more it threatens employment. Layoffs have already started in certain companies and in certain sectors in general, such as remote assistance, computer programming and even the press. And according to famed Silicon Valley investor Vinod Khosla, this is just the beginning.
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80% of professional tasks carried out by AI?
During an interview with Bloomberg, Vinod Khosla did not hesitate to present a very clear point of view on the evolution of AI and many professional sectors. For him, AI could one day do 80% of the work in 80% of jobs. “That means everyone from doctors and salespeople to farmhands and assembly line workers could see AI take over much of their work and, above all, do it better“, he explains in a column published on his company’s website.
However, the investor does not consider this prediction to be negative: above all, he believes that humans will have much more free time. These comments tend to go in the same direction as those of Elon Musk, who estimated that AI will replace all human jobs in the future, during an interview in December 2023.You can have a job if you want, some sort of personal fulfillment, but AI will be able to do everything“, declared the one who is also convinced that all the world’s energy could quickly come solely from solar panels, under one condition.
What about revenue if AI does all the work?
Of course, this kind of prediction raises another problem: how will people be able to make a living if AI takes over most of their work? For Vinod Khosla and Elon Musk, the answer can be summed up in two words: universal income. “As AI reduces the need for human labor, universal basic income could become essential“, explains Vinod Khosla, who believes that when we get there, it will be up to governments to play a role in the distribution of wealth. “In a future where AI will have a positive effect, there will be a high universal income, not a basic income“, estimates Elon Musk.
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All of this speculation may sound like something out of a science fiction movie and seems to depict an optimistic futuristic world in which humans would have machines work for them and then enjoy lots of free time, getting paid to do nothing. But for now, it’s hard to ignore that AI tends to leave people out of work: if these predictions come true, the transition between the two models is likely to be very painful.
Article written in collaboration with our colleagues from IGN Brazil.
