AI ‘apocalypse’ could take away almost 8m jobs in UK, says report
Women, younger workers and lower paid are at most risk from artificial intelligence, says IPPR thinktank

Almost 8 million UK jobs could be lost to artificial intelligence in a “jobs apocalypse”, according to a report warning that women, younger workers and those on lower wages are at most risk from automation.

The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said that entry level, part-time and administrative jobs were most exposed to being replaced by AI under a “worst-case scenario” for the rollout of new technologies in the next three to five years.

The thinktank warned that the UK was facing a “sliding doors” moment as growing numbers of companies adopt generative AI technologies – which can read and create text, data and software code – to automate everyday workplace tasks.

The report said this first wave of AI adoption was already putting jobs at risk as growing numbers of companies introduce the technology. However, a second wave could lead to the automation of more jobs amid rapid advances in AI.

Analysing 22,000 tasks in the economy covering every type of job, the IPPR said 11% of tasks currently done by workers were at risk. This could, though, increase to 59% of tasks in the second wave as technologies develop to handle increasingly complex processes.

It said routine cognitive tasks – including database management, scheduling and stocktaking – were already at risk, with potential to displace entry level and part-time jobs in secretarial work, administration and customer services.

However, the second wave of AI adoption could impact non-routine tasks involving the creation of databases, copywriting and graphic design, which would affect increasingly higher earning jobs.

Women would be significantly more affected, as “they are more likely to work in the most exposed occupations, such as secretarial and administrative occupations”, the IPPR said.

In the worst-case scenario for the second wave of AI, 7.9m jobs could be displaced, the report said, with any gains for the economy from productivity improvements cancelled out with zero growth in GDP within three to five years.

In a best-case scenario for full augmentation of the workforce with generative AI, no jobs would be lost, while the size of the economy could be increased by 4%, or about £92bn a year.

Sounding the alarm over the impact on workers, the left-of-centre thinktank said government action could prevent a “jobs apocalypse”, and help to harness the power of AI to boost economic growth and raise living standards.

Carsten Jung, senior economist at IPPR, said: “Already existing generative AI could lead to big labour market disruption or it could hugely boost economic growth. Either way, it is set to be a gamechanger for millions of us.

“But technology isn’t destiny and a jobs apocalypse is not inevitable – government, employers and unions have the opportunity to make crucial design decisions now that ensure we manage this new technology well. If they don’t act soon, it may be too late.”

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2024/mar/27/ai-apocalypse-could-take-away-almost-8m-jobs-in-uk-says-report

I think AI needs to be taxed, so the money raised can fund UNI for all the displaced workers.

party_pants said:

I think AI needs to be taxed, so the money raised can fund UNI for all the displaced workers.

UBI

Good, more unemployment means less inflation, and The Economy Must Grow.

party_pants said:

I think AI needs to be taxed, so the money raised can fund UNI for all the displaced workers.

and what are they going to study?

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

I think AI needs to be taxed, so the money raised can fund UNI for all the displaced workers.

and what are they going to study?

Sorry, typo.

UBI which is Universal Basic Income. The dole without the need to look for work or do anything productive.

They can study fishing and surfing and bushwalking and stuff like that.

party_pants said:

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

I think AI needs to be taxed, so the money raised can fund UNI for all the displaced workers.

and what are they going to study?

Sorry, typo.

UBI which is Universal Basic Income. The dole without the need to look for work or do anything productive.

They can study fishing and surfing and bushwalking and stuff like that.

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

sarahs mum said:

and what are they going to study?

Sorry, typo.

UBI which is Universal Basic Income. The dole without the need to look for work or do anything productive.

They can study fishing and surfing and bushwalking and stuff like that.

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

Well, if you put millions of workers out of a job, you have no consumers.

Economics 101 and the basic economic model of Adam Smith:, households are both workers and consumers. Household consumption drives all economic activity. If you deprive households of work and therefore wages, you decrease consumption. An AI based economy still needs human consumers. If they aren’t getting money through wages because all their jobs are obsolete, then they must be given income by radical and direct means.

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

sarahs mum said:

and what are they going to study?

Sorry, typo.

UBI which is Universal Basic Income. The dole without the need to look for work or do anything productive.

They can study fishing and surfing and bushwalking and stuff like that.

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

dv said:

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

There has to be, because there’s no concerted plan to replace drudgery with technology, for the sake of human enrichment.

party_pants said:

An AI based economy still needs human

LOL

Bubblecar said:

sarahs mum said:

party_pants said:

Sorry, typo.

UBI which is Universal Basic Income. The dole without the need to look for work or do anything productive.

They can study fishing and surfing and bushwalking and stuff like that.

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

dv said:

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

Is it different if migrants are taking jobs, are migrants a form of technological improvement ¿

Bubblecar said:

dv said:

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

There has to be, because there’s no concerted plan to replace drudgery with technology, for the sake of human enrichment.

In seriousness when the greedy fuckers are controlling the means of production including the aimeans of production, such that they keep all the profits and the slaves can continue to drudgery away, none of it is going to change.

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

dv said:

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

There has to be, because there’s no concerted plan to replace drudgery with technology, for the sake of human enrichment.

In seriousness when the greedy fuckers are controlling the means of production including the aimeans of production, such that they keep all the profits and the slaves can continue to drudgery away, none of it is going to change.

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

sarahs mum said:

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

Humans don’t need to be plugged into VR sets unless they choose to be. There are many other more creative and rewarding pursuits, although VR could be a much more creative offering if that’s what the designers sought.

But it’s true (though not entirely acceptable to point out) that there are doubtless many humans of a type best suited to menial pursuits, who might well feel lost without that sort of niche.

You can’t have an economy based upon AI consumption.

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

dv said:

Pardon my skepticism but there’s nothing intrinsically different about AI “taking jobs” than any kind of technological improvement “taking jobs”, and people have been talking about that kind of thing my entire life, how computers are going to make people irrelevant etc.

The labour force participation rate in Australia is much higher now than it was when I was a kid. The work has changed but there’s still plenty of labour required.

I suppose the question is: should there be?

There has to be, because there’s no concerted plan to replace drudgery with technology, for the sake of human enrichment.

In seriousness when the greedy fuckers are controlling the means of production including the aimeans of production, such that they keep all the profits and the slaves can continue to drudgery away, none of it is going to change.

Aye, it remains an extremely primitive system at heart, in which “access to more resources than you could possibly need or creatively or meaningfully use” is still regarded as the benchmark of supposed success in life.

If you’ll be my bodyguard
I can be your long lost pal
I can call you Betty
And Betty, when you call me, you can call me Al

party_pants said:

You can’t have an economy based upon AI consumption.

AI the way it is now, perhaps, but we suspect there was also a time when all the prokaryotes thought that you couldn’t have an economy based upon eukaryotic intelligence consumption, if only prokaryotes could think.

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

sarahs mum said:

i suppose that makes more sense.

in a sad way.

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

19 shillings said:

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

https://tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/?main=https%3A//tokyo3.org/forums/holiday/topics/17366/

19 shillings said:

SCIENCE said:

Bubblecar said:

Not necessarily sad. Leaving the drudgery to the computers and robots, while humans enjoy the finer aspects of life sounds a damn good deal to me.

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

SCIENCE said:

19 shillings said:

SCIENCE said:

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

Nice cropping. You had one job.

SCIENCE said:

19 shillings said:

SCIENCE said:

Exactly. It’s happy as can be. It’s eudaimonia, just plug all yous humans into VR sets and play these games for the rest of yousr lives¡

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

Nup. Can’t understand that one for the missing text.

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

19 shillings said:

—

Do you ever see positivety in humans?

Nup. Can’t understand that one for the missing text.

Many thanks,

And goodnight. Time for me to plot my next moves of world conquest…

ChrispenEvan said:

party_pants said:

SCIENCE said:

Nup. Can’t understand that one for the missing text.

so turns out the cropping kept the important bits and left out unimportant bits damn this ai thing

How much energy AI really needs. And why that’s not its main problem.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZraZPFVr-U

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

Peak Warming Man said:

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

Oddly, Karl Marx thought that Britain would be the first country where a communist revolution would occur.

So, they wouldn’t have been ‘yellow hordes’, but rather ‘pale sun-deprived mobs in slightly damp cloth caps’.

Peak Warming Man said:

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

Witty Rejoinder said:

Peak Warming Man said:

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

exactly what I thought of… you gonna race him?

Peak Warming Man said:

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

Makes sense, that’s where a lot of it is these days

dv said:

Peak Warming Man said:

When I see “means of production” I immediately think of communism and yellow hordes, millions of them.

Makes sense, that’s where a lot of it is these days

I was a production controller for a few years. The means of production were mine, all mine. (chuckles evilly)

LOL

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-27/artificial-intelligence-ai-faces-fake-images-social-media/103627436

A recent ANU study found people are now more likely to identify AI-generated images of faces as more real than actual human faces.

Love the narrative that this is all about how good 愛 is, when it’s actually all about how shit humans are. Kind of like thinking of cars as horseless carriages.