White House AI Report Gives 'Undue Credence' to Jobs Lost, Worker Inequality, Says CDI

A White House report on artificial intelligence "rightly" extols the technology's potential, but also gives "undue credence" to speculation that AI will "exacerbate inequality" and eliminate jobs before acknowledging creation of new ones, said Center for Data Innovation (CDI) Director Daniel Castro in a statement. Tuesday's report (see 1612200056) said the technology could hurt less-educated, lower-skilled workers and recommended several policy changes including more R&D, worker training and education, and a modernized social safety net. "The White House is wrong to suggest that AI will power a productivity explosion so great that it destroys jobs faster than the economy can keep up," said Castro. "That idea vastly overestimates the ways in which AI will be able to replace people -- and it underestimates the extent to which productivity gains create new job opportunities by putting more money into the economy." He said policymakers including the incoming Trump administration should keep the claims in perspective. But Castro said he supports the strategies the White House put forth and said the report correctly says the bulk of new jobs created won't be high-skilled technical jobs like computer scientists but in other sectors where companies benefit from AI. In October, CDI released an AI report and held a discussion on how government regulators and policymakers could help foster the technology (see 1610190027).