Over the last few years, there has been a phrase that’s crept into the lexicon of our current day tech-filled culture and the phrase ‘techno-panic’ doesn’t seem like it’s going away anytime soon. As more jobs and industries become automated, the fear that technology will outpace humanities ability to adjust has a lot of people lashing out the ideas of Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning or even the use of digital assistants.
Counter-arguing the growing wave of technophobia is Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who believes that Artificial Intelligence will help create more jobs than many feel it will consume. Admittedly, Nadella does head one of the largest software companies on earth whose sole purpose is to provide future-forward solutions to business such as AI, Machine Learning, and Quantum Computing.
Dovetailing into his own company’s vested interest is Nadella’s thoughts that AI could actually blossom the need for new and different jobs for certain demographics. During an interview with Vanity Fair at the New Establishment Summit in Los Angeles, Nadella offered his thoughts on the matter.
“We should have a very clear view of what automation does to displacement and we should get to it, but one of the things I also hope is we can take advantage of AI to get more people into the workforce.”
While he offered little in the way of clarification as to what jobs or demographics AI could help boost, the idea that AI will help create new job opportunities isn’t solely a Nadella idea. Many in the tech and civic industries see AI as allowing process workers to explore more “meaningful” endeavors such as people-focused employment, i.e. social work, or areas where AI lacks emotional understanding. Nadella offered some anecdotal stories of how AI is being woven into technology to help those who have disabilities, join or in some cases, rejoin the workforce with the assistance of new AI-powered devices and software. On the flip side, working in industries who implore AI is also quickly becoming a booming enterprise, perhaps, validating Nadella’s notion that AI as a whole is creating more jobs.
