The growth of artificial intelligence (AI) may eventually lead to fewer entry-level graduates being hired, the boss of accountancy giant PwC has told the BBC. However, global chairman Mohamed Kande said AI was not behind recent job cuts at the firm, adding that the company actually needed to hire hundreds of new AI engineers but was struggling to find them. But some observers say the technology itself threatens thousands of junior jobs across the professional services industry. Speaking on the sidelines of a business summit in Singapore, Mr Kande also said big changes in the global economy, such as US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs, had been good for the firm's consulting business. He also addressed the company's suspension in China last year over its work on the collapsed property giant Evergrande, promising that the same mistakes would not happen again.

I suppose I could sit here and fret over a day in the not-too-distant future when a robot powered by artificial intelligence(AI) will spit out newspaper columns like this one, rendering redundant columnists like me. After all, there have been reports that computers can already churn out news reports that read almost as well as those written by journalists, and in a fraction of the time taken. The thought of being replaced by software is depressing and, I might add, self-defeating. That is why I disagree with the way technological advances and the future of work are all too often framed in either-or terms: either robot or human worker, either AI or human brain. Here are a few recent examples of headlines in local media that fall into this category: "AI may replace a third of graduate jobs: Study", published on April 6; "Evidence that robots are winning the race for American jobs", published on March 30; and "Robots may take over 10 million jobs in Britain in 15 years", published on March 25. Such reports reflect how automation and AI are more often than not viewed - not just in Singapore but in other parts of the world too - as threats to jobs and human well-being.

LONDON • Machines or software may eventually replace a third of graduate-level jobs worldwide, with legal frameworks for regulating employment and safety becoming rapidly outdated, says a new report by the International Bar Association (IBA), a global forum for the legal profession set up in 1947. The innovation in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics could force governments to order quotas of human workers, upend traditional working practices and pose new dilemmas for insuring driverless cars, says the report, released this week. The IBA's survey found that the previous manufacturing model of poorer, emerging economies having a competitive advantage due to cheaper workforces will soon be eroded by robot production lines and intelligent computer systems. To illustrate, a German car worker costs more than £40 (S$70) an hour, but a robot costs only between £5 and £8 an hour. "A production robot is thus cheaper than a worker in China," the report notes.