“Scientists warn AI means job losses in every profession” is the headline for an article in the Financial Times dated Feb. 15, 2016. This page 1 article is authored by Clive Cookson. The copy of the article can be seen at the end of this post.
Following are a few quotes from this article: Intelligent machines would soon replace people in all sectors of the economy, computer scientists told a meeting of the American Association for Advancement of Science in Washington at the week end. ……….. “We are approaching the time when machines will be able to outperform humans at almost any task”, according to the computer science professor Moshe Vardi from Rice University, Texas. ”Society needs to confront this question before it is upon us …..” Professor Selman from Cornell University has helped to draft an open letter last year from the Future of Life Institute, Cambridge, MA. to policy makers urging them to explore the risks associated with increasingly intelligent machines.
While the above caution and appeal for better public policies are valid and timely, it is perplexing to see that such caution is raised only against a future possibility imposed on us by self-driving cars, robotics and Artificial Intelligence. We believe that individuals and enterprises cannot sit and wait till some policies are debated and implemented to address the unabated role of DT (and its formulations such as AI and Robotics and driver-less cars, etc.) in eliminating human centered work. Individuals need to gain academic knowledge in combination with their applications know-how (called sector or domain specific knowledge), together with a set of skills for “System Thinking and Transformational Skills”.
We call this collective know-how and its application as the Knowledge Integration. Such KI capability is the essential education at all levels. The practice of KI will be the competitive weapon for workers and their employers for the foreseeable future.
For education on System Thinking and Transformational skills and for projects to implement them for competitiveness in the global economy https://stimsinstitute.com/contact-us/
Our detailed views on this topic can be seen at: Warning against job loss
STIMS Institute 