Automation may trigger WW-3, warns Alibaba boss Jack Ma INFY CHIEF’S OPINION
Warning the policy makers about the threat of automation, Alibaba founder Jack Ma said advanced technologies, which seek to replace humans at workplaces, can trigger a World War.
Referring to jobs that could could no longer exist for humans with the advent of these technologies, the Chinese billionaire told CNBC that “the rich and poor — the workers and the bosses — will be increasingly defined by data and automation unless governments show more willingness to make hard choices.”
“World leaders have a duty to educate people to prevent the pain caused by a rapid rise in automation and artificial intelligence,” he added.
A study by Oxford University suggested that 100 professions or occupations are at risk of being eliminated by automation in the future. All jobs that don’t require exceptional thought processes and those that could be accomplished by analysing data with a simple algorithm could be replaced.
Alluding the breaking out of world wars to disruption of the global order due to technology, Mr Ma said: “The first technology revolution caused World War 1. The second technology revolution caused World War 2. This is the third technology revolution.”
With machine learning and AI eliminating jobs, he said “the third technology revolution may cause the Third World War.”
While claiming that the AI would allow people to work less and travel more, the billionaire said that he does not like the idea of machines replacing humans. MR SIKKA said since more and more of the work is now becoming automated, the Indian IT firms need to focus much more on the innovative areas, on the new areas, on the areas that are the frontier areas
THE
INFY boss said the 10,000 jobs that they plan to bring in the United States are all high skilled jobs and in the innovative new areas, like AI, new interfaces, cloud based technology et al It is wrong to say and to think that we are dependent on H-1Bs. For example, if you look over the last 10 years, there are about 65,000, something like that, H-1B visas granted every year. That means over 10 years it is 650,000. And we collectively employ millions of people. Infosys alone has 200,000 employees. TCS close to double that number and so on
— VISHAL SIKKA,
THE INDIAN IT industry has delivered a tremendous amount of value, especially in the US. But the nature of that value delivery is changing dramatically