Nobel Prize winning MIT economist says AI could triple unemployment in 10 years

AI is changing the world at breakneck speed, and with it comes a nagging question: Can jobs keep up? Companies across the globe are racing to automate tasks with artificial intelligence, but MIT economist and Nobel laureate Daron Acemoglu has a warning. According to him, the impact on workers could turn out to be far bigger than anything we are seeing today.In an interview with 60 Minutes, Acemoglu said that automation is already moving at an unprecedented speed and warned that unemployment could triple over the next decade if the US continues on its current path without taking action. “What we are living through with AI is unprecedented,” he said.AI could change the job market faster than expectedAccording to Acemoglu, previous technological revolutions took decades to reshape the workforce. The first phase of the Industrial Revolution, for example, took around 80 years. AI, however, is spreading across multiple industries at the same time.“The first phase of the Industrial Revolution took 80 years. Today it's taking place in one or two years and it's taking place across many different sectors at the same time,” Acemoglu said. He acknowledged that AI will also create jobs, including roles involving the training and development of AI systems. But he believes those new opportunities may not be enough to absorb the workers displaced by automation.“The number of people they're employing in these positions is small relative to the number of people who will be replaced,” he said, adding, “That's the whole point of automation.” Acemoglu’s warning comes at a time when AI leaders themselves are divided over how much risk society should accept in exchange for the benefits of the technology.OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has argued that some negative consequences of AI may have to be accepted if the technology delivers much larger benefits. Speaking to Politico, Altman said there was “a lot of daylight” between his views and those of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei when it comes to AI regulation.“We believe that the world should accept some bad things happening for the benefits of this technology and people having the agency,” Altman said.Amodei, meanwhile, has repeatedly warned about AI’s impact on jobs and society. He earlier warned that coding and engineering roles could be among the first to be affected as AI becomes capable of handling more software development. He has also warned that entire careers built over decades may disappear.And that is exactly where Acemoglu’s bigger concern comes in: what happens to the workers whose jobs are displaced by this rapid shift? If automation continues to move faster than people can adapt, he warns, the next decade could look very different for the job market.- Ends