Artificial intelligence will affect 40% of jobs around the world and it is "crucial" that countries build social safety nets to mitigate the impact on vulnerable workers, according to the head of the International Monetary Fund. AI, the term for computer systems that can perform tasks usually associated with human levels of intelligence, is poised to profoundly change the global economy with advanced economies at greater risk of disruption. Analysis by the IMF, the international lender of last resort, says about 60% of jobs in advanced economies such as the US and UK are exposed to AI and half of these jobs may be negatively affected. But the technology will also help to enhance some humans' productivity as AI improves their performance, it said. According to the IMF, the safest highly exposed jobs are those with a "high complementarity" to AI, meaning the technology will assist their work rather than displace it entirely.

The European Union's (EU) proposed plan to regulate the use of artificial intelligence (AI) threatens to undermine the bloc's social safety net, and is ill-equipped to protect people from surveillance and discrimination, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. Social security support across Europe is increasingly administered by AI-powered algorithms, which are being used by governments to allocate life-saving benefits, provide job support and control access to a variety of social services, said Human Rights Watch in its 28-page report, How the EU's flawed artificial intelligence regulation endangers the social safety net. Drawing on case studies from Ireland, France, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and the UK, the non-governmental organisation (NGO) found that Europe's trend towards automation is discriminating against people in need of social security support, compromising their privacy, and making it harder for them to obtain government assistance. It added that while the EU's Artificial Intelligence Act (AIA) proposal, which was published in April 2021, does broadly acknowledge the risks associated with AI, "it does not meaningfully protect people's rights to social security and an adequate standard of living". "In particular, its narrow safeguards neglect how existing inequities and failures to adequately protect rights – such as the digital divide, social security cuts, and discrimination in the labour market – shape the design of automated systems, and become embedded by them."

Does this have to be the way? Artificial intelligence was supposed to boost productivity and create better futures in medicine, transportation, and workplaces. Instead, AI research and development has focused on only a few sectors, ones that are having a net negative impact for humanity, MIT economistDaron Acemogluargues in "Redesigning AI," a Boston Review book. "Our current trajectory automates work to an excessive degree while refusing to invest in human productivity; further advances will displace workers and fail to create new opportunities," Acemoglu writes. AI also threatens "democracy and individual freedoms," he writes.

Countries looking to harness the power of disruptive technologies need to ensure that citizens, and particularly the poor and those left behind, benefit from the opportunities created by disruptive technologies. It is not enough that disruptive technologies lower costs of goods and services or provide other efficiencies. Jobs, education, social safety nets, and investments that give opportunities to the poor matter just as much. At this year's Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group, stakeholders in the development community will, among many different topics, discuss how best to leverage the potential of disruptive technologies in order to address world's most pressing development challenges. Disruptive technologies include innovations that "lead to a step change in the cost or access to products and services with potential to disrupt traditional pathways of economic development."

Artificial intelligence (AI) technology has the potential to boost productivity but increase wealth inequality and wipe out millions of jobs, a research report by the White House claimed on Tuesday. An increasing number of industries are set to be impacted by automation technology over the coming years which could displace jobs, a fear that has been voiced by academics and business leaders. Auto companies are developing driverless cars while factories could are seeing the increased use of robotics, which has the ability to eat into jobs. But many developments are at the early stage and the impact of automation technology could affect different industries are varying speeds. "Because AI is not a single technology, but rather a collection of technologies that are applied to specific tasks, the effects of AI will be felt unevenly through the economy. Some tasks will be more easily automated than others, and some jobs will be affected more than others--both negatively and positively," the White House report said.

"Because AI is not a single technology, but rather a collection of technologies that are applied to specific tasks, the effects of AI will be felt unevenly through the economy. Some tasks will be more easily automated than others, and some jobs will be affected more than others--both negatively and positively," the White House report said. "Some jobs may be automated away, while for others, AI-driven automation will make many workers more productive and increase demand for certain skills. Finally, new jobs are likely to be directly created in areas such as the development and supervision of AI as well as indirectly created in a range of areas throughout the economy as higher incomes lead to expanded demand." Researchers across the world have given varying estimates about the size of job losses.

Artificial intelligence-driven automation will be a crucial driver of economic growth in the U.S., but if not handled properly, it can also lead to a massive disruption in the current livelihoods of millions of Americans and could -- at least in the short term -- even increase societal inequality. This is the crux of a new report on the economic impact of AI released Tuesday by the White House. The report -- a follow-up to a previous one released by the White House in October -- urges policymakers to be prepared to face "a range of potential outcomes," as an accurate assessment of the AI's impact on the economy is dauntingly hard to make. "It is possible that AI will not have large, new effects on the economy, such that the coming years are subject to the same basic workforce trends seen in recent decades -- some of which are positive, and others which are worrisome and may require policy changes," the White House said in its report. "Because the effects of AI-driven automation will be felt across the whole economy, and the areas of greatest impact may be difficult to predict, policy responses must be targeted to the whole economy."

Artificial intelligence will be essential to the future economic growth of the United States, but if education and social services aren't improved, American workers could lose millions of jobs. The report, released by the White House Tuesday, details the enormous potential benefits as well as the enormous potential job loss that could occur as a result of the rise of artificial intelligence. The solution, according to the report, is to invest more in improving education and the "social safety net" to help prepare American workers for the changes. Emphasizing the upside to artificial intelligence, the report first notes the importance of artificial intelligence technology to growing the economy. "Advances in AI technology hold incredible potential to help the United States stay on the cutting edge of innovation," the report says.