Ministry: Robots, AI could wipe out 7.3 million jobs by fiscal 2030?The Asahi Shimbun

Artificial intelligence and robots could deprive 7.35 million people of their jobs by fiscal 2030 if Japan fails at this pivotal time to structurally reform the labor market, the economy ministry said. The estimated job losses were included in the ministry's survey on the impact on labor of the "fourth industrial revolution," said to be driven by AI and big data. If nothing is done to adjust to the changes, employment for all job types, except certain low-wage work, will decrease, and the number of employees will drop by more than 10 percent in fiscal 2030 from fiscal 2015, according to the preliminary calculation. The survey says if structural reforms are implemented, employment opportunities would be created in some sectors, and the number of job losses would shrink to 1.61 million from 7.35 million. The survey results were presented at an April 27 meeting of an expert committee discussing how to respond to the spread of AI, the Internet of Things (IoT) and robots.