The International Monetary Fund has said that Artificial Intelligence (AI) will take up 30 per cent of jobs in advanced economies, 20 per cent of jobs in emerging markets, and 18 per cent of jobs in low-come countries.
The IMF said the replacement of workers by AI would be “Bigger than anything we’ve seen before”.
IMF First Deputy Managing Director, Gita Gopinath said these in a paper delivered at the AI for Good Global Summit.
She said, “Let me describe how AI could worsen the next downturn, starting with labor markets. The experience with previous waves of automation offers a warning here. During good times, firms are often flush with profits.
“They can afford to invest in automation and hold on to workers, even if the value-added of those workers declines. However, in a downturn, these firms simply let go of workers to cut costs. Therefore, the extent to which automation could replace humans only becomes fully visible during or immediately after a downturn.
“In the next downturn, AI is likely to threaten a wider range of jobs than in past cycles, including higher-skilled cognitive jobs. An estimated 30 percent of jobs in advanced economies are at risk of being replaced by AI. That figure is 20 percent for emerging markets and 18 percent for low-income countries.”
Gopinath said the disruption could also lead to unprecedented numbers of long-term unemployed, because many of the displaced workers will lack the requisite skills in an economy where AI is increasingly prevalent.
She said, “The pool of potentially replaceable workers in future downturns will be bigger than anything we’ve seen before. The result could be unprecedented job losses.
“Such a sharp spike in unemployment would be a major shock to the financial system, as record numbers of unemployed workers could struggle to repay their debts. However, in this new AI-adapted reality, that would be only part of the disruption to the financial system.”
Over 30% Of Jobs In Advanced Economies Will Be Lost To Artificial Intelligence— IMF is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
