EDITORIAL
Addressing the impact of AI on workers
Artificial intelligence dates back to the 50s when a generation of scientists, mathematicians, and philosophers culturally assimilated the concept of artificial intelligence (or AI) in their minds. A young British polymath named Alan Turing explored the mathematical possibility of artificial intelligence. He suggested that humans use available information and reason to solve problems and make decisions, so why can’t machines do the same thing?
His seminal work, Computing Machinery and Intelligence, ignited the discussion on how to build intelligent machines and how to test their intelligence. Turing, however, could not produce a proof of concept and advocacy from high-profile people because computers lacked an essential prerequisite for intelligence: they couldn’t store commands, only execute them. In other words, computers could be told what to do but couldn’t remember what they did. Moreover, computing was extremely expensive. In the early 1950s, leasing a computer ran up to $200,000 a month.
Seven decades later, what was then a wild idea in the 50s is now a byword in all walks of life. As all types of AI technology advance and become more accessible, a more significant number of jobs across industries are set for disruption. Although disruption might not feel immediate for the above jobs, of 356 AI experts surveyed in 2022, half gave a date before 2061 for when they predict that unaided machines will be able to accomplish every task better and more cheaply than human workers.
A new wave of AI systems may have a major impact on employment markets worldwide. Shifts in workflows triggered by these advances could expose 300 million full-time jobs to automation. Goldman Sachs economists estimate that roughly two-thirds of U.S. occupations are exposed to some degree of automation by AI. They further estimate that, of those exposed occupations, roughly a quarter to as much as half of their workload could be replaced.
Researchers at OpenAI have explored the potential exposure to AI different occupations face – and its impact is widespread. Around 19 percent of workers, meanwhile, could see at least 50 percent of their tasks impacted.
In Southeast Asia, by 2028, a research study titled “Technology and the Future of ASEAN Jobs,” conducted by Cisco and Oxford Economics, examined the effects of AI on workers in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) six most significant economies, concluded that 28 million fewer workers across these economies will be required to provide the same level of output as today.
In the Philippines, significant areas of displacement are jobs in agriculture (1.2 million), wholesale/retail (880,000), and manufacturing (380,000). Displaced workers will be 4.5 million, or over 10 percent of the workforce. The study cited in the report forecasts the creation of new jobs in wholesale/retail (1.3 million), transportation (490,000), and construction (460,000).
Technological innovation has been shaping the world of work since before the invention of the wheel. But the issue has taken on a new urgency with the rise of AI. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) will create a new challenge for Government policymakers as it threatens to replace skilled workers who have not previously been vulnerable to technological change. AI has the potential to help human beings maximize their time, freedom, and happiness. At the same time, it can lead us towards a dystopian society. Finding the right balance between technological development and human rights protection is an urgent matter on which the future of the society we want to live in depends.