Will AI take our jobs?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Will AI take our jobs?
Position1 of 3›: No: there will always be jobs for humans
Argument‹3 of 3: Labour displacement is normal

Technology has always resulted in the displacement of human labour

The argument

Fears over the changing role of technology in work have always proved to be unfounded. The creation of industry, factories, and the production line was thought to lead to mass unemployment, but ultimately it led to a whole new society with a lot more work to be done. Technology has never permanently ended work itself, merely transformed and displaced it from one sector to another. The advent of automation is likely to be extremely similar - and, like the replacement of horses as transport with motor vehicles as transport, it could lead to many, many more jobs.

Context

From the development of industrialised farming, to factory mass production, and the growth of the service industry: the system always adapts

Premises

[P1]Fears that technology would cause mass unemployment — as with factories and the production line — have always proved unfounded. [P2] Technology has never permanently ended work, only transformed and displaced it from one sector to another. [P3] Automation, like cars replacing horses, is likely to create many more jobs than it destroys. [C] Therefore, because labour displacement is normal, there will always be jobs for humans.

Counter-arguments

The replacement of horses with motor vehicles did end a type of work - but only for horses. That's exactly what automation will do, but this time it's humans being replaced.

Rejecting the premises

Automation is unlike all other technological transformations, and will in fact replace human labour by transforming society.