If artificial intelligence relieves us of so much and takes over the tedious work, people can focus on the harder tasks that require human skills. That’s the usual argument in favour of AI.
It assumes people don’t want to do boring work and are looking for challenges instead. That might be true for the overachievers in your LinkedIn feed, but plenty of people work to make ends meet. They accept boring work so they can go out on the weekend, do something fun, and take a holiday once or twice a year.
As an employer, AI lets you get faster — and possibly better — results without humans who get sick or ask for pay rises. But the many people who’ll be let go won’t find work, and it won’t be long before we need to find a solution for that.
Perhaps we’re closer to a universal basic income than we think. Because otherwise there’ll be too much unrest. And nobody wants that — not the politicians, not the businesses.