Week #15: Artificial Intelligence Is Going To Take Away Jobs?!

As a student who is going to graduate from college in the near future, reading about AI (Artificial Intelligence) I am a bit alarmed. Although some articles mention there is much time before AI will have a heavy impact on our jobs, it can be seen that the takeover has already begun. The threat of self-driving cars has many truck drivers uneasy. Self-driving cars will put thousands of truck drivers out of work.  However, it is not only truck drivers. Many other employees in large corporations are at risk of losing their jobs. One article was written in March 2017 by CNN Tech states, 38% of jobs in the U.S. are at risk of being replaced by robots and artificial intelligence over the next 15 years. The risk is not just in the United States. It plays a role in many major countries.  Shown below is a percentage table showing what percent of these countries jobs AI will affect.

AI is a great step towards innovation for everyone, however; the gap between the rich and poor will become wider than it already is. This polarization in the labor market will lead to an income inequality. The polarized labor market is when highly skilled employees who are able to use technology to be more productive, replace employees who do the labor. The results of polarization will be the most prominent in the middle class. An example given in an article written by the Wall Street Journal states, “One of our retail utility customers in the U.K. has about 300 robots doing 600 people’s worth of work,” said Alastair Bathgate, CEO of Blue Prism, another company that helps multinationals automate critical business functions.” That is 600 people left unemployed! The part of this article that left me a little afraid was the reference to the Ivy League students. So basically these Ivy League students would have to teach AI codes and such to people and right when they finished, their services were no longer needed. WHAT? WHY? As a student, I don’t even want to think about being treated that way. Students go through so much with thousands of dollars in loans and basically coming out of college in debt. Now, to be told that my skills are only “part-time” worthy is completely unfair.

In the article “A New Kind of Jobs Program for Middle America”, some are saying computer science and coding is the way to go to ensure job security. I know that is supposed to make me feel better about technology but honestly, it just annoys me. Why would I do something like coding if I don’t even care for it? The article talks about two individuals who attended coding boot camp, which costs a whopping $13,750. I mean I guess for those people it was okay because they never went to college and weren’t drowning in student loans. It’s great for them, but not great for me.

To be honest, as the times start evolving there will be many changes. I believe you should do what you are passionate about. Technology will forever be advancing; don’t let that discourage your dreams.

Do what you love

-Sabiha-