AI poses a threat to half of all jobs within two decades Artificial intelligence (AI) could threaten almost half of all jobs in the next 10 to 20 years, as automation is poised […]

Artificial intelligence (AI) could threaten almost half of all jobs in the next 10 to 20 years, as automation is poised to revolutionise future employment, according to a report.

While AI should be “welcomed for its potential economic benefits”, those benefits are unlikely to be evenly distributed across society, the Whitehouse report written by President Obama’s advisors found.

AI has been hailed as the linchpin of the fourth industrial revolution, according to the World Economic Forum, and has been designed to help computers ‘think’ and process information as intelligently, and in many cases more efficiently, as a human would.

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The report, published this week, warns that up to 47 per cent of jobs in the US are at risk of being replaced by AI.

It also claimed the various disparate technologies that make up AI could be harnessed to increase productivity, and in turn create more jobs and raise living standards, wages and leisure hours.

AI to create deeper divide between the skilled and unskilled

This will create greater disparity, as technological innovation typically threatens lower-paid, lower-skilled occupations. It is the highly-skilled specialist few that stand to benefit most from the rise of AI, as competition reduces and wealth inequality rises, the report suggested.

Artificial intelligence is an area of technology many of the world’s largest firms are investing significant amounts of time, effort and money in. Earlier this year, Google’s created an AI system intelligent enough to beat Korean grandmaster Lee Se-dol at ancient board game Go, in a groundbreaking achievement and a landmark moment in AI history.

The AlphaGo program used machine learning to build up a level of expertise, repeatedly playing itself millions of time to gain a sense of every possible scenario.Similarly, IBM’s Deep Blue supercomputer managed to beat world champion Garry Kasparov at chess in 1997. Mr Kasperpov declared the computer had cheated and demanded a rematch, but IBM refused.

Between 2.2m and 3.1m existing full and part-time jobs could be threatened by increased use of AI in automated vehicles, such as driverless cars, in the US alone. These roles include bus and taxi drivers, self-employed drivers and HGV operators.

Extensive training to prepare the US labour market for the influx of AI is crucial to generating widespread awareness of how it will change the nature of many jobs, starting with teaching children to prepare them for future employment. Further effort is also required to make computer science education available to all children, it added.

Policymakers should also brace themselves to strengthen current unemployment insurance plans and to introduce wage insurance and emergency aid for those affected by the sweeping changes.

“If a significant proportion of Americans are affected in the short- and medium-term by AI-driven job displacements, policymakers will need to consider more robust interventions, such as further strengthening the unemployment insurance system and countervailing job creation strategies,” it advised.