A Smarter, More Hopeful Future of Work - If We Get Artificial Intelligence Right (#284)
1/13/202621 min
Elon Musk and Geoffrey Hinton warn of an AI-driven job apocalypse.
MIT’s David Autor, one of the world’s leading thinkers on how technology reshapes work, says the real danger lies somewhere else.
The biggest risk of AI isn’t mass unemployment - it’s whether human skills and expertise will still matter.
David explains how AI could expand middle-class opportunity by lowering barriers to high-value work, why past technologies created more new jobs than they destroyed, and what we need to get right to make this moment a hopeful one.
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First 90 secondsLynn Toman· Host0:00
[chime] The warnings about artificial intelligence are everywhere, and they're getting scarier. Elon Musk calls AI the most disruptive force in history, warning that a day is coming when no one will need a job. Geoffrey Hinton, often called the godfather of AI, has suggested people consider going into plumbing, and surveys show three-quarters of Americans believe AI will shrink the job market. But what if all that is wrong? What if AI's real impact isn't mass unemployment, but something completely different and maybe even transformative? [music] Hi, everyone. I'm Lynn Tolman, and this is Three Takeaways. On Three Takeaways, I talk with some of the world's best thinkers, business leaders, writers, politicians, newsmakers, and scientists. Each episode ends with three key takeaways to help us understand the world and maybe even ourselves a little better. Today, I'm excited to be with David Autor. David has spent decades studying exactly how technology reshapes jobs and wages. He's a professor at MIT and one of the world's leading experts on the future of work. His research has shaped how policymakers and business leaders think about automation,