We need to be proactive to ensure AI supports—rather than supplants—human priorities
We can choose to use AI to replace as many workers as possible—or we can instead choose to use AI to bolster talent and identify it in underrecognized places.
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Quick: guess how many of the 270 jobs listed in the 1950 census have since been eliminated by automation. Are you thinking a quarter? A third?
“Just one,” says Kellogg’s Hatim Rahman, an assistant professor of management and organizations. “And in case you are wondering, that job was an elevator operator.”
It’s a statistic that he wants us to keep in mind as we ponder the future of work—and specifically, the “fear that AI is going to suddenly lead to mass unemployment.” Rahman spoke about how AI will affect our careers, and our society, on a recent The Insightful Leader Live webinar.
His take? “Decades of research shows that fear is unfounded.”
Instead, he says, where we’re headed is largely up to us—though we’ll need to be proactive to ensure it isn’t chosen for us. Here are four highlights from his presentation.
[This article has been republished, with permission, from Kellogg Insight, the faculty research & ideas magazine of Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University]