Work Smarter
Three things in life are certain; death, taxes, and work—but artificial intelligence (AI) skeptics have their doubts about the third. Since its proliferation into the mainstream, naysayers have voiced concerns about AI stealing jobs from millions of people, never to be replaced. Rather, history indicates that new technologies are an opportunity for industries to transform and improve.
In his aptly titled piece for the Wall Street Journal, “No, AI Robots Won’t Take All Our Jobs”, Robert Atkinson explains what economists call the “lump of labor” fallacy:
“the idea that there is a limited amount of work to be done, and if a job is eliminated, it’s gone for good. This fails to account for second-order effects, whereby the saving from increased productivity is recycled back into the economy in the form of higher wages, higher profits and reduced prices. This creates new demand that in turn creates new jobs.”
The need for work and the job market will not evaporate into thin air at the first sign of a technological revolution. It hasn’t in the past, and it won’t in the future.
Atkinson observes that displacement from automation has happened before, yet the need for work done by humans has continued. For instance, electricity and robotics replaced the men who worked at bowling alleys in the 20th century to line up pins after each round of bowling. R Street Senior Fellow Adam Theirer frequently uses the example of human calculators being relieved of the duty of doing hard math on chalk boards by automated calculators. In both cases, humanity has adapted and bounded back in response to the temporary displacement.
This is not to say that things will remain the same. Industries are experiencing profound innovation powered by AI. We’ve written about how the technology is saving lives in medicine and empowering teachers in the field of education—often within our own state!
One area that is ripe for the transformative impacts of AI is that of government. Conflicting regulations abound on both the state and federal level. The buildup of red tape and bureaucracy is a drain on taxpayer dollars and a hindrance to progress. In a recent op-ed from NOLA news, Anna Johnson of the West Baton Rouge Chamber of Commerce offered a suggestion to Louisiana lawmakers: use AI to make government better. “Every government accumulates laws and regulations that eventually create confusion or redundancy. Sorting through all of them manually is resource-intensive. AI can process huge amounts of data in seconds, flagging contradictions or inefficiencies that would take months or years to uncover. That’s not just modernization—it’s smarter government.” AI’s ability to organize and categorize vast amounts of data is far beyond human ability. States can harness that level of efficiency on behalf of their citizens and reap the benefits for years to come.
No industry has gone untouched by AI, and more change is sure to follow. Society at large is faced with the choice to use AI to help enhance both lives and livelihoods, or to shy away from the technology and fall prey to the “lump of labor” fallacy. State leaders in particular can lead the way in leveraging the technology by applying its computing power to the day-to-day administration of programs and services and ensuring that red tape and onerous regulations don’t stand in the way of a government that works for its people.
Links to Learn More
Letters: Louisiana can build a smarter, more responsive government with the help of AI
