IMF on alert for the “shock” of artificial intelligence
The first deputy director general of the International Monetary Fund, Gita Gopinath, spoke about the effects of this technology on the economy
The introduction of Artificial Intelligence (AI) may represent an “unprecedented shock” in labor markets, as warned by the first deputy director general of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Gita Gopinath, for whom there are no guarantees that finally the benefits outweigh costs and has called for a “truly global” set of rules.
In a speech in Glasgow to mark the 300th anniversary of Adam Smith’s birth, Kristalina Georgieva’s right-hand woman at the IMF suggested that AI could help reverse the slowdown in global productivity growth by automating certain cognitive tasks. while giving rise to new, higher productivity functions for humans to perform.
However, aside from the potential productivity gains, Gopinath noted that AI could “shake up the job market in unprecedented ways,” warning that after the recent loss of mid-skill jobs to automation, AI could affect occupations and industries differently than previous waves of automation.
In this sense, he recalled that recent empirical studies suggest that AI can reduce the polarization of the labor market by exerting downward pressure on the salaries of the best paid jobs, in addition to flattening the hierarchical structure of companies, increasing the number of workers. in junior positions and decreasing the number in intermediate and high management positions.
“The number of jobs affected could be overwhelming,” said the senior IMF official, for whom it cannot be guaranteed that the gains of the winners will be enough to compensate the losers.
“It’s quite possible that AI will simply replace human jobs without any effort to create new, more productive jobs for humans to move into“, so despite AI’s potential, he urged consideration of the broad negative effect it could have on employment and the social unrest this could cause.
K. Tovar
Source: El Economista
(Reference image source: Unsplash+)
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