The International Monetary Fund is worried that AI will harm the economy and the labor market. In a new report, they say that they have “profound concerns” about the economic disruption and that countries should “should take an agile approach that prepares them for both business as usual and highly disruptive scenarios.”
Those highly disruptive scenarios, they say, could lead to job losses in higher-skilled occupations. Unskilled laborers have seen this historically due to automation but higher skilled occupations have not so that would be a major change to who has job security and who does not. Meaning no one does.
But what can be done about this? The report suggests “adequate social protection systems (social insurance, labor market programs, social assistance)” and for countries to “broaden the coverage and generosity of unemployment insurance, improve portability of entitlements, and consider forms of wage insurance.”
This is a dystopic outlook. None of us would work because AI has all of our jobs so we are dependent on global government handouts? Is it too early to panic about that?
