Return of Luddite Fears in AI Era

N 1811, armed with hammers and desperation, a band of English textile workers stormed factories to smash the mechanised looms that threatened their livelihoods.

- ADITYA SINHA

These Luddites weren't resisting technology itself—they were fighting an economic shift that had no place for them. Fast forward two centuries: the anxiety remains, though the machines have changed.

In 2016, when AlphaGo dismantled world champion Lee Sedol at the ancient game of Go—long thought to be beyond machine capabilities—tech writer Kevin Kelly issued a chilling prediction: "Before AI, a job was safe if it required intelligence. Now, those are the first to go."

The Economic Survey 2024-25 wrestles with this same conundrum: will artificial intelligence be a force for empowerment or an architect of obsolescence?

The survey dedicates a chapter to the impact of AI on employment, portraying it as both a challenge and an opportunity. However, the analysis is rooted in theoretical optimism, assuming that institutional mechanisms will adequately mitigate disruptions. While acknowledging risks such as job displacement, inequality and the concentration of AI benefits among a few firms, the survey provides solutions that may downplay the scale and speed of AI-driven changes.

Today, AI is not only taking over repetitive jobs, but also jobs that require critical thinking. In healthcare, AI systems like DeepMind can diagnose diseases from medical images more accurately than radiologists. In criminal justice, tools like COMPAS assess recidivism risk more consistently than judges. In education, AI-driven platforms like DreamBox and Khan Academy tailor learning experiences to individual students. And so on.