Will I Survive the AI Revolution?

The adoption of Artificial Intelligence by more industries, and it's subsequent advances, raise a lot of questions. 

For example, Saudi Arabia recently gave "Sophia the Robot" citizenship. That makes Saudi Arabia the first country to grant a robot citizenship.  This isn't the first time non-persons have been granted the rights of a citizen, but it does raise questions. 

Another question I hear more often is:

 

How long until the machines are better at my job than me? 

 

Automation used to mean big, bulky machines doing manual and repetitive work, but today, automation can land aircraft, diagnose cancer and trade. 

Kurzgesagt, a YouTube channel specializing in explaining things "in a nutshell" took on the new wave of automation. It's a little long at 11 minutes, but it's worth watching.

  

Kurzgesagt via Youtube

Kurzesegast asserts that in the past, innovation created new industries or allowed increased scale ... but the number of jobs the internet and Artificial Intelligence create aren't matching the number of jobs they're making obsolete. 

According to this study, approximately 50% of jobs will be automated by 2034.

Personally, I believe that freeing us to do more has always been a boon to society.  Electricity put a lot of people out of work as well.  Nonetheless, look what it made possible.

To date, human progress has been based on the division of labor. As our society progressed, our jobs have become more and more specialized.  Now, machines will be able to break-down complex jobs into simple parts and complete them faster than we can.  

Machine Learning is being done faster and better.  And you can bet that will only become more true.  So, yes, the same technology that's  currently creating opportunities could eventually put you out of a job ... but it also creates an opportunity for something new.

Basic concepts (like what constitutes a person and which things are alive) are not so basic anymore.  And the implications are fascinating as well.  For example, people are discussing the taxation of robots, a Universal Basic Income, and even One-Child Policies. 

There's a lot of change coming, and that can be scary, but there's plenty of reason to be excited as well.

We live in a golden era of innovation, and we have longer life-expectancies than ever before. 

We truly live in interesting times!