The White House Report on AI and the Economy: Warning of Increasing Inequality
The White House has issued a sequel to its October report on how the U.S. should approach artificial intelligence and its effects on various groups and institutions. Today’s report focuses on the potential economic effects of AI, and while it’s far from a dark outlook, it does warn that with improper handling, automation could drive further inequality in this already deeply divided country. “You look at the last couple decades, we have seen an increase in inequality,” said Jason Furman, Chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, on a press call discussing the paper. “In part that increase has been because of a technological fact: that technological innovation, more recently, has helped complement people with higher skills. So we now have a few decades of experience with technology helping to contribute to inequality.” AI, the report suggests, will continue this trend, and as such, requires the kind of proactive accommodation as other technologies, like those made for mobile phones and the internet.
Three general strategies are suggested for making the inevitable automation of millions of jobs less impactful on the people doing those jobs.
- Invest in AI. The report from October addresses this in more detail, but generally the government must be wary that it doesn’t fall behind other countries or private companies in its husbandry of this nascent technology. Diversity is encouraged in the report as an essential ingredient in problem-solving and planning, and algorithmic bias is mentioned in particular as a challenge to be overcome.
- Educate and train for the jobs of the future. While careful not to throw the country completely under the bus, the report is unsparing in describing the current plight of some aspects of the American educational system. If the United States fails to improve at educating children and retraining adults with the skills needed in an increasingly AI-driven economy, the country risks leaving millions of Americans behind and losing its position as the global economic leader.
- Reinforce the safety net. With a new technology threatening to produce huge numbers of displaced workers, it behooves us to invest in unemployment and healthcare to make sure these people can stay on their feet while finding or training for the next opportunity.
One other warning the report gives, though it isn’t attached to any recommendation in particular, is this: The winner-take-most nature of information technology markets means that only a few may come to dominate markets. If labor productivity increases do not translate into wage increases, then the large economic gains brought about by AI could accrue to a select few. In other words, if we don’t make sure that AI is working for everybody, you can be damn sure a handful of people are going to make it work for them. Let’s try to avoid that.
