Even if AI-related job displacement is less severe than many feared, corporations will need to be enlisted in minimizing its effects in the name of social solidarity. To that end, governments should consider what policy incentives are in place, and large employers should consider their own long-term interests.
CHICAGO—AI-related job displacement is coming, though no one knows how fast it will proceed, how far it will go, and which sectors it will affect most. Much depends on the pace at which individual firms apply the technology to their operations. A recent US Census Bureau Business Trends and Outlook Survey indicates that only 20% of firms with fewer than 20 employees currently use AI, compared to 37% of businesses with at least 250 employees. While larger firms are doing more with the technology, 37% is still quite meager considering the survey’s low threshold for answering in the affirmative (whether AI is used “in any business function”).