Former Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang has warned that not enough is being done to prepare for artificial intelligence (AI), especially its impact on the labor market, saying AI could cause huge job losses. He said there is.
While talking with fox news digital Yang stressed this week that there will be “drastic changes” brought on by AI, and that institutions across the country are unprepared for the changes ahead.
“When I was running for president in 2020, I was talking about job loss, and I’m still very concerned about that,” said Yang, now co-chair of the Progressive Party.
“The IMF said around 40 per cent of global jobs could be affected. This equates to hundreds of millions of workers around the world, but the impact is now visible in our politics. And it’s just the beginning.”
The development and widespread adoption of AI could destroy nearly 40% of jobs, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a new analysis.
“AI is a very powerful technology and a set of tools. The tools are inherently neither positive nor negative, but there are both positives and negatives in how the tools are used,” Yang said.
Yang noted that AI and deepfake videos are already having a major impact on the political arena. The entrepreneur was referring to the AI-generated robocalls used to urge voters not to side with President Biden during the New Hampshire primary.
“We can clearly see that deepfake videos are already being used for political purposes,” Yang said. “Fake photos of terrorist attacks are being used to manipulate the stock market.”
“Soon. We won’t be able to tell up from down, left from right, and if someone shows me a video of me doing something heinous, I’ll just shrug and say no. You’ll think it never happened. We’ll have the best defense in the not too distant future.”
Mr. Yang was in South Carolina this week campaigning for Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota), who is challenging Mr. Biden in the Democratic primary. If elected president, Phillips promised: he will establish “AI Sector” to check whether the nation is ready to deal with the development of AI.
“We are critically unprepared for AI and its impact on the labor market,” Yang said.
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