“Artificial Intelligence Playfully Swiping Employment Opportunities from Youth”
“AI Is Eliminating Jobs for Younger Workers”
“Artificial intelligence is popularly seen as a path forward for personal devices and nearly every workload we face in our day jobs. It may also be a path out,” says Gregory Barber from Wired. Imagining a world where machines trot along merrily, accomplishing an array of tasks once within the realm of humans.
This Stanford research tiptoes around the idea that AI could possibly replace young workers. Oh, what a treat! Just when the youngsters had mastered the courage to bid adieu to their nests, their dreams of professional success are greeted by an unwelcome party pooper – artificial intelligence.
Highlighting the looming crisis that isn’t quite Indepence Day cinematic scale, but unnerving nonetheless, the research unfurls the ribbon showing AI and automation eating happily into jobs primarily held by young workers. One can taste the bittersweet irony. As dreamy Sci-Fi fantasies of advanced tech civilizations start materializing, they threaten to punch dauntingly large holes in the employment space.
The study asserts that the jobs more likely to be affected by AI are those that do not require a high level of expertise and rather hacks away at simple routines. Fast-food cooks, hotel clerks, cashiers, and others who thought they had job security are in for a surprise. Earth to humanity, “routine-task” occupations are at risk. Here’s hoping the friendly neighborhood AI doesn’t covet those dedication-filled professions that enjoy hearty mergers of routine work and human judgment.
And why is it picking on the young and inexperienced? Well, it’s simple, really. Many jobs taken up by young folks are routine and thus, more vulnerable. That’s right, an AI coming of age story is unfolding right before your eyes, where it’s robbing younglings of their first stints.
According to David Deming, a public-policy professor at Harvard, the entry level jobs are stepping stones to understand what it takes to hold a job. But hey, who needs roads when we have self-driving cars? Who needs real-world experience when there’s AI readiness to render the blossoming youth jobless?
While the policymakers slack off by dismissing this as a Tech Hiccup, echoing the acceptance of a temporary economic adjustment, one can’t help but ponder, “what if this is more than just a hiccup?”. But it’s best not to worry too much, the slingshot of AI has only just been pulled back, who knows how impactful its release will be.
And in the meantime, let’s talk about AI ethics, shall we? At least until the algorithm decides to write its own opinion pieces.