Technology, Automation and Employment Will This Time Be Different?

Th ose concerns date back to the early stages of the in- dustrial revolution and the use of coal-fi red weaving machines to automate textile manufacturing, and they continue through to the present-day and adoption of computerized algorithms that "learn" how to automate tasks through the use of data-driven "machine learning." In fact, the history of automation affi. [...] An obvious example is the explosion in the demand for computer programmers and software engineers to implement the use of computers in a wide range of business and human activity. [...] Th is implies that the skill mix of the labour force is constantly in need of change to accommodate the change in the demand for specifi c skills. [...] Th e research of economic historians largely supports the claims that in the past, automation has primarily led to changes in the mix of oc- cupations rather than to mass unemployment; it has also led to increases in real income levels rather than an expansion of poverty.1 Nevertheless, a number of prominent technology experts argue that the AI experi- ence will be diff erent from the historical e [...] To the extent that a growing use of AI reduces the costs of production of a wide range of goods and (increasingly) services, it eff ectively increases the real incomes of consumers, other things constant.