#productivity #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #work #jobs
Artificial intelligence (AI) is raising productivity.
Increasing productivity per worker is the way to get the economy to expand, and keep going strong for years.
Jeanna Smialek discussed this development in an article for The New York Times. It was also published March 2, 2024, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The last time productivity went up like this was 30 years ago, the article says.
At that time, Federal Reserve officials were debating whether the economy could keep moving vigorously without causing inflation, Smialek reports.
Also, during the 1990s, computerized work was just catching on. Now, AI is just starting to catch on. As the article says, it was the computer age vs. the Zoom age. Inflation is also beginning to cool down, and wages are rising more quickly than inflation.
As discussed here before, AI is a double-edged sword. It will cause workplace changes. Some will benefit greatly. Others could be hurt badly.
Since there is nothing any one person, or group, can do to stop this progress, we, as individuals, have to figure out how to live with it – or, better yet, be better off for it.
AI may be able to fill some jobs that go unfilled. It may send people who never thought a machine would ever replace them looking for new ways to make a living.
New hiring and layoffs could be happening at once in the same company or workplace.
When the internet was in its infancy, employers thought workers would waste a lot of time at their desks surfing, the article says. While that sometimes happened, it did not cause widespread decreases in productivity.
The users of AI can probably find nefarious ways to use it. But, the article makes clear that it will increase productivity overall.
Another factor the article sites in the productivity gains is the rise in entrepreneurship. Business applications are surging again, as people decide to strike out on their own after losing or leaving jobs, the article says.
Indeed, AI could bring about a golden age of entrepreneurship. That means it will be up to individuals to figure out how best they can fit into this brave new world.
If certain skills become obsolete quickly, one will have to figure out the next chapter in their lives. These moments don’t have to be bleak, or not end well. They can be an opportunity for one to find his or her real passion, and capitalize on it.
We may all have passions we did not know we had. Or, we may have imaginations nimble enough to find a new way to work.
AI is not superior to human intelligence. While human intelligence can create from scratch, AI, at least for now, can collect what has already been done and morph it into something that a human does not have to do.
Therefore, we must all buckle up for what is to come. There may be some bumps and bruises along the way, but it will be up to all of us to find a way to make life even better than it is now.
Peter