AI will take over jobs, warns Bank economist
“Large swathes” of Britain’s workforce face the threat of unemployment as robots take over jobs, the Bank of England has warned. The Bank’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, claimed the workforce must be taught new skills for the country to avoid growing numbers of “technologically unemployed” people. People with manual jobs, such as those in transportation, manufacturing and storage, are most at risk of losing their livelihoods.
“LARGE swathes” of Britain’s workforce face the threat of unemployment as robots take over human jobs, the Bank of England has warned. The Bank’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, claimed the UK must re-skill its workforce to avoid growing numbers of “technologically unemployed” people.
The “fourth industrial revolution” could radically restructure the economy with implications for workers “potentially on a much greater scale” than ever before, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.
People with manual jobs, such as those in transportation, manufacturing and storage, are most at risk of losing their livelihoods to artificial intelligence as robots undertake tasks faster and more efficiently.
New technologies can also carry out cognitive work in a threat to professions which had previously been insulated from robotic rivals.
One safe haven for workers could be customer-facing roles focused on the skills of human interaction and negotiation, Mr Haldane said.
The economist, who is also a member of the central bank’s interest ratesetting committee, added the UK must learn the “lessons of history” by retraining the workforce to take up new jobs created by technology.
Mr Haldane drew parallels between the current changes being driven by advances in robotics with previous periods of rapid technological change in the 19th and 20th centuries. “Each of those [industrial revolutions] had a wrenching and lengthy impact on the jobs market, on the lives and livelihoods of large swathes of society,” Mr Haldane said.
“That heightened social tensions, it heightened financial tensions, it led to a rise in inequality ... This is the dark side of technological revolutions.”
Mr Haldane said it is hard to estimate the number of job losses caused by AI, but added that the scale is likely to be “at least” as large as that of the first three industrial revolutions.
His warning follows data published by the Office for National Statistics that showed the UK’S unemployment rate fell to the lowest level since 1975 in June. The jobless rate fell to 4pc in the three months to June, down from 4.2pc in the previous three-month period.
Tabitha Goldstaub, chairman of the Government’s AI Council, warned that people would need critical support to prepare for changes that could see up to 50pc of jobs currently done replaced by new technologies.
In 2017, a report by Future Advocacy, a think-tank that looks at the biggest policy challenges of the century, found at least 20pc of jobs in all constituencies were at risk from automatation.
However, not everyone agrees that AI will hollow out the workforce. In May, 71pc of UK chief executives told KPMG that AI will create more jobs than it destroys in the short run.