Contrary to tech optimists’ rosy predictions, AI may prove to be a drag on growth. By concentrating wealth and economic opportunities in a few cities while destroying the low-cost jobs that have historically fueled global development, the technology could end up making much of the world poorer and more divided.
OXFORD—The divide between AI fantasists and doomsters is growing. The fantasists believe AI will turbocharge growth and create a utopian world of abundance. The doomsters believe it poses an existential threat to humanity and that, before killing us, it will lead to mass unemployment and a world of pervasive surveillance and alternative realities. Who is right? And can governments do anything to mitigate the risk of catastrophe?
OXFORD—The divide between AI fantasists and doomsters is growing. The fantasists believe AI will turbocharge growth and create a utopian world of abundance. The doomsters believe it poses an existential threat to humanity and that, before killing us, it will lead to mass unemployment and a world of pervasive surveillance and alternative realities. Who is right? And can governments do anything to mitigate the risk of catastrophe?