Will AI replace most human jobs in the long term?
Group 34
27-06-2022
Wordcount: 2962
Introduction
For over 40 years, Tom Jansen worked at a call center firm in Utrecht as a customer service
employee. He takes his first call at 9am, and answers the questions or addresses any concerns that
their customers may have. Tom loved doing his job and the customers were happy with Tom’s
attitude in the morning. But one day in mid-March, Toms’ supervisor called him and told him not to
come into work the next day. He was less needed, since Artificial Intelligence (AI) took over part of
his job. The AI with voice capability was now able to provide the caller with information about the
product. Tom is afraid that AI will be able to do more in the future and that he could eventually lose
his job.
Tom is not the only one that might lose his job due to AI developments. Almost every industry in the
world plans to use AI or has already adopted it in their business, since these technologies have
decreased repetitive work and increased work productivity (Ascott, 2021). AI used to be a sci-fi film
script, but it is now the reality. This has created enthusiasm about how AI may drive our economic
growth, but also to worry about what will happen to human workers and the possibility that they
will lose their jobs.
Throughout history, technological advancement has affected human society in its ways of living and
working. It has eliminated entire classes of jobs, while creating new and more skilled ones to replace
them (Stahl, 2021). People who lost their jobs could undertake retraining, and perhaps use
severance compensation or unemployment benefits to obtain a job in a different profession. Looking
back at the 20th century, despite the massive automation of millions of jobs, more jobs were
created (Stahl, 2021).
The term “artificial intelligence” was first coined at Dartmouth conferences back in 1956 (Veisdal,
2021). There are several universal definitions for AI. We define artificial intelligence as the ability of
computer systems to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings (Burns et al., 2022).
This merely indicates that there are machines that are capable of performing human-like tasks, but
better and more effectively.
, In the last few years, AI research has really taken off, and it is predicted that growth will continue to
accelerate. More than one-quarter (27%) of all employees are concerned that these technological
advances could lead to unemployment for them (Wronski, 2019). Currently, AI has only replaced a
small number of jobs, but only on a very small scale. Studies have estimated that around half of all
current jobs could be at risk of automation (Walsh, 2018). Other studies have shown that more jobs
will be created due to AI. There is no doubt that the world as we know it today will drastically change
in the future because of technological developments. It is hard to make predictions about the future
job market due to these technological developments, since we don’t know what AI will be able to do
for us. Therefore, it remains an open question whether more jobs will be created then destroyed for
the next generation. This paper aims to address the concern of whether AI will replace most human
jobs in the next generation.
First, we will give three counter-arguments explaining why most human jobs might disappear due to
AI. Subsequently, we will give three arguments explaining why developments in AI will not lead to
job loss in the future. Finally, we will draw a conclusion based on our arguments.
Group 34
27-06-2022
Wordcount: 2962
Introduction
For over 40 years, Tom Jansen worked at a call center firm in Utrecht as a customer service
employee. He takes his first call at 9am, and answers the questions or addresses any concerns that
their customers may have. Tom loved doing his job and the customers were happy with Tom’s
attitude in the morning. But one day in mid-March, Toms’ supervisor called him and told him not to
come into work the next day. He was less needed, since Artificial Intelligence (AI) took over part of
his job. The AI with voice capability was now able to provide the caller with information about the
product. Tom is afraid that AI will be able to do more in the future and that he could eventually lose
his job.
Tom is not the only one that might lose his job due to AI developments. Almost every industry in the
world plans to use AI or has already adopted it in their business, since these technologies have
decreased repetitive work and increased work productivity (Ascott, 2021). AI used to be a sci-fi film
script, but it is now the reality. This has created enthusiasm about how AI may drive our economic
growth, but also to worry about what will happen to human workers and the possibility that they
will lose their jobs.
Throughout history, technological advancement has affected human society in its ways of living and
working. It has eliminated entire classes of jobs, while creating new and more skilled ones to replace
them (Stahl, 2021). People who lost their jobs could undertake retraining, and perhaps use
severance compensation or unemployment benefits to obtain a job in a different profession. Looking
back at the 20th century, despite the massive automation of millions of jobs, more jobs were
created (Stahl, 2021).
The term “artificial intelligence” was first coined at Dartmouth conferences back in 1956 (Veisdal,
2021). There are several universal definitions for AI. We define artificial intelligence as the ability of
computer systems to perform tasks commonly associated with intelligent beings (Burns et al., 2022).
This merely indicates that there are machines that are capable of performing human-like tasks, but
better and more effectively.
, In the last few years, AI research has really taken off, and it is predicted that growth will continue to
accelerate. More than one-quarter (27%) of all employees are concerned that these technological
advances could lead to unemployment for them (Wronski, 2019). Currently, AI has only replaced a
small number of jobs, but only on a very small scale. Studies have estimated that around half of all
current jobs could be at risk of automation (Walsh, 2018). Other studies have shown that more jobs
will be created due to AI. There is no doubt that the world as we know it today will drastically change
in the future because of technological developments. It is hard to make predictions about the future
job market due to these technological developments, since we don’t know what AI will be able to do
for us. Therefore, it remains an open question whether more jobs will be created then destroyed for
the next generation. This paper aims to address the concern of whether AI will replace most human
jobs in the next generation.
First, we will give three counter-arguments explaining why most human jobs might disappear due to
AI. Subsequently, we will give three arguments explaining why developments in AI will not lead to
job loss in the future. Finally, we will draw a conclusion based on our arguments.
