Joseph Stiglitz on artificial intelligence: We're going towards a more divided society
It must be hard
for Joseph
Stiglitz to remain an optimist in the face of the grim future he fears
may be coming. The Nobel laureate and former chief economist at the World Bank
has thought carefully about how artificial intelligence will affect our lives.
On the back of the technology, we could build ourselves a richer society and
perhaps enjoy a shorter working week, he says. But there are countless pitfalls
to avoid on the way.
The ones Stiglitz has in mind are hardly trivial. He worries about ham-fisted moves that lead to routine exploitation in our daily lives, that leave society more divided than ever and threaten the fundamentals of democracy. “Artificial intelligence and robotisation have the potential to increase the productivity of the economy and, in principle, that could make everybody better off,” he says. “But only if they are well managed.”
The ones Stiglitz has in mind are hardly trivial. He worries about ham-fisted moves that lead to routine exploitation in our daily lives, that leave society more divided than ever and threaten the fundamentals of democracy. “Artificial intelligence and robotisation have the potential to increase the productivity of the economy and, in principle, that could make everybody better off,” he says. “But only if they are well managed.”
On 11 September, the
Columbia University professor will be in London to deliver the latest lecture
in the Royal Society’s You and AI series. Stiglitz will talk about the future of work, an
area where predictions have been frequent, contradictory and unnerving. Last
month, the Bank of England’s chief economist, Andy Haldane, warned that “large swathes” of Britain’s workforce face
unemployment as AI and other technologies automate more jobs. He had less to say about the new positions AI may
create. A report from PricewaterhouseCoopers in July argued that AI may create
as many jobs as it destroys – perhaps even more. As with the Industrial Revolution, the misery
would come not from a lack of work, but the difficulty in switching from one
job to another.
A distinction Stiglitz
makes is between AI that replaces workers and AI that helps people to do their
jobs better. It already helps doctors to work more efficiently. At
Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge, for example, cancer consultants spend less
time than they used to planning radiotherapy for men with prostate
cancer, because an AI system called InnerEye automatically marks up the gland
on the patients’ scans. The doctors process patients faster, the men start
treatment sooner and the radiotherapy is delivered with more precision... read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/sep/08/joseph-stiglitz-on-artificial-intelligence-were-going-towards-a-more-divided-society
