This report from the MIT Technology Review Task Force explores building better jobs in an age of intelligent machines, making the case that automation and AI won't lead to widespread job destruction anytime soon.
At the core of the task force’s findings in this report: A robot-driven jobs apocalypse is not on the immediate horizon. As technology takes jobs away, it provides new opportunities; about 63 percent of jobs performed in 2018 did not exist in 1940. Rather than a robot revolution in the workplace, we are witnessing a gradual tech evolution. At issue is how to improve the quality of jobs, particularly for middle- and lower-wage workers, and ensure there is greater shared prosperity than the U.S. has seen in recent decades.
Decades of technological change have polarised the earnings of the American workforce, helping highly educated white-collar workers thrive, while hollowing out the middle class. Yet present-day advances like robots and artificial intelligence do not spell doom for middle-tier or lower-wage workers, since innovations create jobs as well. With better policies in place, more people could enjoy good careers even as new technology transforms workplaces.