Useless Class

Useless Class

A possible class of people who will not be able to find work in future job markets. Just as mass industrialization created the working class, the AI revolution could create an unworking class once algorithms are able to perform many tasks better than humans. Today, humans are specializing more and more, which makes it easier for computers to replace us. In order to replace humans, computers only need to be better than us at a specific task. Current estimates state that in the coming years many different jobs – such as telemarketing, insurance underwriting, sports refereeing, and positions including those of cashiers, chefs, waiters, paralegals, tour guides, bakers, bus drivers, security guards, sailors, bartenders, archivists, carpenters and lifeguards – will all be replaced by algorithms. Many new professions are also likely to appear in the digital and virtual worlds, but it is unclear whether 40-year-old cashiers or insurance agents will be able to reinvent themselves in order to take on one or other of these new positions. Moreover, the crucial problem is not in creating new jobs, but in creating new jobs that humans can perform better and more efficiently than algorithms. And since we do not know what the job market will look like in 2030 or 2040, we do not know what to teach our kids. Soon, the traditional divide into a period of learning followed by a period of working will become utterly obsolete, and the only way for humans to stay in the game will be to keep learning throughout their lives and to reinvent themselves periodically and repeatedly. Many humans may be unable to do so, and will not only be unemployed, they will be unemployable. What will they do with their lives? What will be their place or role in society? This is one of the main challenges of the 21st century.