Bank of England says jobs are at risk from robots
Chief economist warns that the rise of AI could spark a Fourth Industrial Revolution, putting thousands out of work
The Bank of England has issued a warning that thousands of jobs may be at risk of being replaced by artificial intelligence (AI) systems.
Andy Haldane, the bank’s chief economist, told the BBC that the rapid growth of AI development would make many jobs “obsolete”. It could also spawn a “Fourth Industrial Revolution” that would be on a “far greater scale” than the first one of the Victorian era.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today Programme this morning, Haldane said: “Each of those [industrial revolutions] had a wrenching and lengthy impact on the jobs market, on the lives and livelihoods of large swathes of society”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
He said that the next Industrial Revolution could feature AI-powered machines capable of “thinking and doing”. These would replace “both the cognitive and the technical skills of humans.”
Haldane’s comments reflect the predictions of several tech experts, the Huffington Post says. The most common belief is that AI will have the most significant impact on manual jobs, while occupations involving more human interaction may be the least affected.
But not everyone agrees. Leslie Willcocks, a professor at the London School of Economics, told the news site that the move to greater automation in the workplace could be beneficial for employees.
He said that companies that use AI for “monotonous” roles could then place workers in “more interesting” and “rewarding” positions.
Meanwhile, a study by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) earlier this year claimed that fears over AI replacing thousands of jobs were “overblown”, the Financial Times reports.
The OECD argues that occupations are significantly harder to automate than previous studies have predicted, the FT adds.
In either situation, Haldane suggests the best course of action is for employers to create more roles that cannot be fulfilled by AI.
He concluded: “We will need even greater numbers of new jobs to be created in the future, if we are not to suffer this longer-term feature called technological unemployment”.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
7 beautiful towns to visit in Switzerland during the holidays
The Week Recommends Find bliss in these charming Swiss locales that blend the traditional with the modern
By Catherine Garcia, The Week US Published
-
The Week contest: Werewolf bill
Puzzles and Quizzes
By The Week US Published
-
'This needs to be a bigger deal'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
What Trump's win could mean for Big Tech
Talking Points The tech industry is bracing itself for Trump's second administration
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Google Maps gets an AI upgrade to compete with Apple
Under the Radar The Google-owned Waze, a navigation app, will be getting similar upgrades
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Is ChatGPT's new search engine OpenAI's Google 'killer'?
Talking Point There's a new AI-backed search engine in town. But can it stand up to Google's decades-long hold on internet searches?
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Teen suicide puts AI chatbots in the hot seat
In the spotlight A Florida mom has targeted custom AI chatbot platform Character.AI and Google in a lawsuit over her son's death
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
'Stunningly lifelike' AI podcasts are here
Under the Radar Users are amazed – and creators unnerved – by Google tool that generates human conversation from text in moments
By Abby Wilson Published
-
OpenAI eyes path to 'for-profit' status as more executives flee
In the spotlight The tension between creating technology for humanity's sake and collecting a profit is coming to a head for the creator of ChatGPT
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
Microsoft's Three Mile Island deal: How Big Tech is snatching up nuclear power
In the spotlight The company paid for access to all the power made by the previously defunct nuclear plant
By Theara Coleman, The Week US Published
-
How will the introduction of AI change Apple's iPhone?
Today's Big Question 'Apple Intelligence' is set to be introduced on the iPhone 16 as part of iOS 18
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published