Robotics, Artificial Intelligence Could Transform Society, But at What Cost?
Some of the world's wealthiest and most influential leaders met at the Milken Institute Global Conference, to discuss a wide-ranging review of issues permeating economics and politics, with topics ranging from agriculture to mortgage markets to international trade and alliances.
Of the 4,000 VIPs who attended — invitations are highly selective, and tickets cost as much as $50,000 — one of the most intriguing questions under discussion was one that almost no one could readily answer: What effect will robotics and artificial intelligence have on our lives and on the world's business, and how rapidly will this next technological revolution take place?
Former President George W. Bush and former Vice President Joe Biden also were on hand to give their perspectives on U.S. politics. They were interviewed by Mike Milken, the omnipotent investor who piled up billions of dollars in profits during the 1980s.
Unemployment in the United States is currently at its lowest point in 10 years — 4.4 percent — but jobs in the retail sector are drying up, down more than 60,000 in the past two months. So-called bricks-and-mortar retail stores are closing down in the face of competitive prices and easy shop-at-home service provided by online retailers such as Amazon.com.
Robotics have transformed the auto industry and many other sectors of manufacturing. Both blue-collar and white-collar jobs are becoming harder to find; opportunities in the services industry keep overall employment levels high, but that also means a decline in average workers' income.
Costs are rising for health care, housing and education, and with fewer good-paying jobs available, Roy Bahat of Bloomberg Beta says those who "play the game by the rules" — educating themselves adequately, buying a home and supporting families — "still struggle to provide for an ordinary life."
Most Americans tend to believe their children will have a better life — or at least earn more money — than they do, but Bahat disagrees: "If you look at the economic data, it turns out we live in the first generation where kids are statistically likely to make less" than their parents.
Anne-Marie Slaughter of New America said projections about how many jobs will be automated in the future vary widely, from 10 percent to 50 percent, and "we have no idea which of those [proportions] are true."
