Robocalypse Now? Central Bankers Argue Whether Automation Will Kill Jobs
“There is no question we are in an era of people asking, ‘Is the Robocalypse upon us?’” David Autor, a professor of economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told an audience on Tuesday
that included Mario Draghi, the president of the European Central Bank, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, and dozens of other top central bankers and economists.
Hal Varian, the chief economist at Google — whose self-driving technology may someday make taxi drivers unnecessary — said
that the plunging cost of information technology “has virtually eliminated the fixed cost of entering a business.” Companies can rent software and computing power over the internet.
But along with the optimism is a fear that the economic expansion might bypass large swaths of the population, in part
because a growing number of jobs could be replaced by computers capable of learning — artificial intelligence.
But, at an exclusive gathering at a golf resort near Lisbon, the big minds of monetary policy were seriously discussing the risk
that artificial intelligence could eliminate jobs on a scale that would dwarf previous waves of technological change.
“But, as recent political developments have brought home, growth is not always enough.”
In the past, technical advances caused temporary disruptions
but ultimately improved living standards, creating new categories of employment along the way.
By JACK EWINGJUNE 28, 2017
SINTRA, Portugal — The rise of robots has long been a topic for sci-fi best sellers
and video games and, as of this week, a threat officially taken seriously by central bankers.