DUBAI - Artificial intelligence (AI) is the most transformative technology since the Industrial Revolution, but most jobs will remain secure if businesses and policymakers focus on augmenting human tasks instead of automating entire roles.
This was the message from Director of the Digital Economy Lab at Stanford University, Dr Erik Brynjolfsson during the "Keeping AI on Track” panel at the 2024 Annual Meeting of the Global Future Councils (AMGFC24), reported Emirates News Agency (WAM).
Brynjolfsson described AI as a "general purpose technology" that can "drive the arc of improvement." He argued that AI should enhance tasks within jobs, not replace entire professions.
"A job is a bundle of different tasks. AI can help with some of them,” he said, citing radiologists as an example. Despite fears that AI’s image recognition would make radiologists redundant, demand for them tripled between 2016 and 2022.
"There are about 27 distinct tasks that radiologists do. One of them is interpreting images. But they do other things, for instance sometimes they have to administer sedation. I want a human to be involved in that. AI helps with some tasks, but with others, you really need a human involved.”
Brynjolfsson presented data showing that 80 per cent of the United States (US) workforce could have 10 per cent of their tasks affected by AI, with 19 per cent of workers, especially in high-paid roles, seeing up to 50 percent of tasks impacted.
He stressed that too many CEOs and policymakers focus on automating jobs when the real potential lies in augmenting human abilities. "The bigger opportunity is to augment; use AI to increase what people can do,” he said.
Looking ahead, he warned that AI will drive a "tremendous business transformation” over the next decade, urging policymakers to prepare.
The UAE is hosting the annual meeting from Oct 15-17 at Madinat Jumeirah, Dubai. This sets the agenda for the World Economic Forum (WEF) Annual Meeting in Davos.
Since its launch in 2008, the Global Future Councils network has involved over 12,000 participants from 100 countries, convening more than 900 councils to address major global trends.
The 2024 edition brings together over 700 participants from 80 countries, including experts, business leaders, and government officials. - BERNAMA-WAM