AI is Here to Stay.Now What's Next?

AI is developing extremely rapidly, and it is difficult to predict how it's going to play out.

- RAVI VENKATESAN

What jobs is it going to replace, will it create more jobs than it destroys? Most critically, how will it affect us? The answers are unclear.

But we can look to history and learn some important lessons. Because everything we are going through has happened before. The context and the players are different. But the patterns are similar. And if we don't understand history, we are condemned to repeat it.

We've Been Here Before

The first Industrial Revolution began in Britain in the 1700s with the invention of the steam engine. That innovation led to a wave of mechanisation. It brought massive productivity gains and created enormous wealth.

But the benefits were not shared equally. Technology was used to replace human beings, so the only people who made money were those who owned capital and machines. Skilled artisans were thrown out of work. People were forced to work in unsafe working conditions. Wages were low, life expectancy dropped.

It took almost 100 years for things to improve. Finally, workers started to share in the prosperity. That's when the middle class was born. But in these 100 years, three generations of workers were crushed. There is a real possibility that the AI revolution can play out in a similar way. Techno-optimists like Bill Gates say that AI will be the great equaliser giving everyone access to incredible expertise, advice, support. Everyone will have access to great doctors, teachers, consultants.

In my view this is far from given. It depends on whether business chiefs and lawmakers largely use AI to augment human capability and share the wealth created or if it will be used mostly to replace people and drive down wages.

But as individuals we can't wait to see how things play out. We have to take charge of our own destiny. So, what can you do to survive and thrive in this age of AI?

Learn to Flourish