AI to hit 40% of jobs and worsen inequality, IMF says

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-67977967

by taimurkazmi • 3 years ago

18 12 3 years ago

I don't want this to turn into a political debate but isn't equality here just another word for communism? Is the word communism being avoided because of its negative stigma? Or is there an actual difference?

stephenitis2• 3 years ago

Similar but not same.

equality focuses on providing equal opportunities and resources to everyone, communism is a broader ideology that seeks to restructure society’s economic and political systems to eliminate classes and ensure that resources are distributed based on need, not wealth or status.

(my bad meant this comment as a reply to the other)

williamcotton• 3 years ago

In capitalism, resources are distributed based on the successful operations of organizations that can turn a profit. The value provided through demand for goods and services is itself the mechanism for distribution. Profit is the motivating factor to continue to provide these goods or services.

“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own self-interest. We address ourselves not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our own necessities, but of their advantages”

― Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature & Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol 1

jemmyw• 3 years ago

No I don't believe so. Inequality is a metric that you can apply to any system. A communist system could have high inequality if it rewarded some skills with a big imbalance. Capitalism as an economic system doesn't really say much about the political system other than that you have the freedom to invest private capital. That could be under a democracy or a dictatorship of various kinds, it's just easier with additional freedoms. Further, capitalism is only saying that all or some of your economy is free from central planning, it doesn't say that your profits from capital are free from being taxed to distribute wealth, and it doesn't say that you are free from regulation that might do various things to improve equality, including wage laws.

Some of the things in our system are specifically unequal and anti capitalist. For example, classes of investor: you need a certain level of income to make some investments.

stephenitis2• 3 years ago

Similar but not same.

azaras• 3 years ago

Communism is not about equality but about workers owning the means of production.

samiheinross• 3 years ago

I’m not saying AI won’t impact jobs. However, IMF is wrong more than it is right. Just look at the recipes they have for countries in financial trouble and they tend to make things worse almost every single time in long term.

Job market like lots of other things is complex and not linear, and has direct dependency on macro conditions. AI might reduce the need for lots of roles, but opens up a lot of new opportunities that are not conceivable by even almighty IMF researchers today.

It’s perhaps analogous to “cars will remove the need to lots of jobs” back in 1886.

0823498723498722• 3 years ago

It’s perhaps analogous to “cars will remove the need to lots of jobs” back in 1886.

Exactly. Prior to ~1920, horses had lots of jobs. After that, not so much:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Terance-Rephann/publica...

(of those that do have jobs now, most are employed on a nonprofit basis for companionship and/or pasture decoration)

kaskakokos• 3 years ago

This time it is not the horses that will be eliminated, but the horsemen.

Moravec's paradox [1] explains that AI can perform the "complex" processes and cannot execute the "simple" processes of children.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moravec%27s_paradox

cassianoleal• 3 years ago

However, IMF is wrong more than it is right. Just look at the recipes they have for countries in financial trouble and they tend to make things worse almost every single time in long term.

As someone who grew up in Latin America in the 80s and 90s: amen!

My country is still picking up the pieces, and some of the damage will persist for a very long time, especially in the areas of health and education - which means even if it does get fixed, the effects will reverberate for at least another generation or two.

6R1M0R4CL3• 3 years ago

the world is inequality. just look at the wages worldwide. and what do you want to do about it ? get everyone to the lowest one ? won't happen. raise everyone up ? won't happen for a very, very long time.

complaining about this is like complaining about death itself.

and every single country where the IMF has its hands inside has been worse : both economically and socially and when it comes to basic human rights.

IMF is part of the problem

AI to hit 40% of jobs and worsen inequality, IMF says

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