As many as 300 million full-time jobs globally could be automated by the emerging artificial intelligence platforms. Elon Musk, Apple’s co-founder, and an AI policy group are calling on the FTC for a crackdown.
Warning: AI could eliminate 300 million jobs
Economists from Goldman Sachs say as many as 300 million full-time jobs globally could be automated by the emerging artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, predicting that 18% of work around the world could be computerized.
The report predicted the effects would be felt more deeply in advanced economies than emerging markets, CNN reported.
The report identified white-collar workers as being the most at risk, particularly with administrative workers and lawyers being the most affected, the economists said.
In the United States and Europe, approximately two-thirds of current jobs “are exposed to some degree of AI automation,” with up to a quarter of all work being completely performed by AI, Goldman Sachs estimated.
Predictions that AI would wipe out jobs have been circulating for the past several years. However, the public release of platforms such as ChatGPT has ignited something of an AI development race between technology companies. Millions of people have signed up, realizing the power such platforms bring. The advances in AI are being seen as the biggest technological development since the Internet.
The technology has demonstrated impressive capabilities in writing, computer coding, building websites, and even creating high-quality images and works of art.
Conversely, blue-collar jobs that require manual labor are likely to be unaffected. Goldman Sachs economists said physically demanding or outdoor work, such as construction and repair, will see “little effect” on their occupations by artificial intelligence.
Tech leaders calls for pause on “dangerous” AI race, warn of decisions by “unelected leaders”
Some of the biggest names in tech, including Elon Musk, Apple’s co-founder Steve Wozniak, and 2020 presidential candidate Andrew Yang, wrote an open letter urging for a six-month pause to the development of such advanced AI, saying it represents a risk to society, CNBC reported.
“Contemporary AI systems are now becoming human-competitive at general tasks, and we must ask ourselves: Should we let machines flood our information channels with propaganda and untruth?” the letter asked.
“Should we automate away all the jobs, including the fulfilling ones?” The letter continued. “Should we develop nonhuman minds that might eventually outnumber, outsmart, obsolete and replace us? Should we risk loss of control of our civilization?”
“Such decisions must not be delegated to unelected tech leaders,” the letter added.
AI policy group calls on the FTC for a crackdown
The Center for AI and Digital Policy (CAIDP), an artificial intelligence-focused tech ethics group, filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to investigate OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, for violating consumer protection rules over the rollout of its AI text generation tools, The Verge reported.
The complaint called OpenAI’s artificial intelligence tools “biased, deceptive, and a risk to public safety.”
The CAIDP identified potential threats from OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 generative text model, including ways it could produce malicious code, highly-tailored propaganda, biased stereotypes, and unfair race and gender preferences, as well as significant privacy failures.
“OpenAI released GPT-4 to the public for commercial use with full knowledge of these risks,” the complaint read.
The complaint argues GPT-4 crosses a line of consumer harm that should draw regulatory action, saying the FTC should hold OpenAI liable for violating Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair and deceptive trade practices.
