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The rise of artificial intelligence threatens to eliminate white-collar and “creative class” jobs once considered impossible to automate, including real estate brokers, insurance claims adjusters, lawyers, and business managers. In a recent article, Kentaro Toyama, associate professor of technology and global development at the School of Information, examines if anything good could come of mass unemployment, or whether it will lead to a worker rebellion.
“Old ideas that computers can’t do certain human things – be creative, express emotion, empathize – are being tossed out one by one,” writes Toyama. “In my view, technology amplifies the inequities of capitalism. What AI will do is to turn nearly everyone into displaced workers, even some who were previously among the elite.”
