Rutherford and Fry on Living with AI: AI in the Economy

Curious Cases

BBC

Technology, Science

4.8 • 4.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 December 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The refrain ‘robots will take your job’ is one heard with increased frequency, but how quickly is automation of the labour force really happening and would it really be such a bad thing if many jobs were powered by artificial intelligence? In this third episode, inspired by this year’s BBC Reith lectures from AI expert Stuart Russell, Adam Rutherford and Hannah Fry - together with expert guests - imagine what the future of work might look like. Will the move towards increased use of artificial intelligence in areas like healthcare, customer service and manufacturing see jobs disappear or will it simply create new ones we cannot yet imagine? Economists are divided on what the effects of machines doing our jobs will be. Some argue it could lead to wide scale unemployment, or skilled workers being forced in into lower skilled jobs. Others believe this might be an opportunity to reshape our socio-economic systems to one where workers are freed from tedious repetitive jobs and instead have more leisure time to pursue their own interests and find meaning outside of work. Will we all one day receive a universal basic income and stop asking each other what we do for work when we meet someone new? Producer - Melanie Brown Assistant Producer - Ilan Goodman

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Dr Adam Ravafood. I spend my time writing and talking about science, and today
0:08.6	I'm going to tell you about artificial intelligence.
0:11.3	Wow, Adam, you said all of that without moving your lips.
0:14.2	That's because I didn't say any of it at all, and that was an AI version of me that has
0:18.5	been trained to sound exactly like me, pretty much, and say kind of the things that I might
0:23.7	say on a radio for a program.
0:25.1	Except for pronouncing your name correctly, apparently.
0:28.0	I don't think you're in danger of losing your job just yet, but that is what today's
0:32.4	rather than frying is all about.
0:34.8	Will artificial intelligence render work obsolete?
0:38.4	Well, this was the theme of the third of Stuart Russell's re-thlectures for the BBC,
0:42.9	and in this series, me and her are picking apart each of his themes.
0:47.0	So, so far, we've looked at the emergence of AI in general and its role in future warfare.
0:52.9	Today we're asking how is AI going to change the way we work?
0:57.0	Will AI help us to do more work faster?
1:00.3	Or will we ever be free to smell the roses instead of grinding out a nine to five to make
1:05.4	ends meet?
1:06.4	Well, today we've got two experts to hold our hands.
1:09.6	Daniel Suskind is a fellow in economics at Oxford University and author of A World Without
1:14.3	Work.
1:15.3	And Julie Shar is Professor in the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics at MIT,
1:19.5	where she leads the interactive robotics group.
	...

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