Thread: 1/ At @csjthinktank we believe work is the best route out of poverty... therefore concerns over AI and automation displacing jobs is of huge concern. Having said that we have always been sceptical that western economies are on the cusp of a mass unemployment dystopia...

2/ While the famous Frey and Osborne paper did find that between a third and half of all jobs are at risk of automation, other studies predict a surge in job numbers linked to technological evolution

3/ Its also worth noting that the UK labour market has grown through every single industrial revolution so far... machines have complemented labour, boosted productivity, and helped create new products and markets...

4/ The ever brilliant @BrookingsInst have now recently come out with two new (and excellent) pieces of analysis on who is most likely to be impacted by AI and automation - challenging the assumption that it just low skilled workers in manufacturing, admin and retail...

5/ Firstly... By comparing text used in AI patents with job adverts, academics find that "In contrast to past analyses, this report finds that better paid professionals and bigger, high-tech metro areas are the most exposed to AI" https://www.brookings.edu/research/what-jobs-are-affected-by-ai-better-paid-better-educated-workers-face-the-most-exposure/

6/ continued... "whereas research on robotics and continues to show that less-educated, lower-wage workers are most exposed to displacement, the present analysis suggests that better-educated, better-paid workers will be the most affected by the new AI technologies"...

7/ Then @MarcDCase recently wrote that while analysis shows routine jobs are falling in number (as a result of new technologies), "listings featuring tasks that require human judgement, discretion, and other so-called “soft skills” became more common" ...

8/ In conclusion... jobs are not going away... high skilled workers are as susceptible as low skilled .... there is increasing need for soft skills... the answer will NOT be found in ideas such as Universal Basic Income... but in education and better employment practices.