What is AI?
Artificial intelligence (AI) is widely predicted to have a
considerable impact in the coming years and decades on
individuals, businesses and the economy. Whilst there is no
universal definition of AI, it can be considered as an evolving
set of technologies that enable computers to simulate elements
of human behaviour such as learning, reasoning and
classification, by analysing data to model some aspect of the
world and predict and anticipate possible future events.
Uses of AI
AI is already in use today for applications as broad as product
recommendation in e-commerce, virtual assistants such as Alexa,
identifying documents relevant to a particular legal case,
automated writing of newspaper articles or automated trading
software. In the future its applications may be even broader,
from autonomous vehicles and virtual teaching assistants to
utilising data for decision making in Government or healthcare.
Government Policy, Skills and Research
Increasing digital skills and providing funding for research
into AI are key issues for the future growth of the industry
and for future employment needs. Numerous reports have
highlighted skills developments, most recently a review for the
Government on growing the AI industry.
The Autumn 2017 Budget and November 2017 Industrial Strategy
announced funding for AI and a ‘sector deal’ for the industry.
How might AI and Automation impact the economy and the
workforce?
This briefing covers the impact of AI and automation on the
workforce. Debate on AI often leads to discussion of its impact
on the economy and individuals – particularly how working lives
may change. AI is thought to be an area that will lead to
economic and productivity growth as well as the creation of new
and different jobs (for example in the Industrial Strategy).
There are a broad range of predictions for how AI and
automation may affect the workforce in the coming years and
decades, and predictions are difficult to make due to
uncertainties in a number of factors such as the rate of
technological development and rate of deployment and the
variations by country, region and sector. The impact is likely
to be significant, however, with the Bank of England reportedly
predicting that up to 15 million jobs in the UK could be at
risk of automation over the coming 10-20 years (but note this
is not a net change – jobs created due to automation are not
taken into account, and technological developments often change
the type of jobs rather than the total number available).
Effects are likely to be felt across a range of sectors and
levels of education.
Other Challenges
There are a range of concerns and issues with AI above and
beyond those regarding employment, including around the
management of data, the verification of different forms of AI
and establishing accountability for decisions based on AI.
