Technology is not enough: Potential job displacement in an AI-driven future
Abstract
Much has been made recently about the rise of artificial intelligence (AI) in the workplace — often accompanied by apocalyptic predictions about what that means for human jobs. This paper discusses job displacement in the face of advancing technology; technological advancement has always rendered certain jobs obsolete, but it has also always generated new jobs and industries in their place. For example, Henry Ford’s Model T created the demand that led to an explosion of growth in the hospitality industry as cars became affordable. While AI is an extremely powerful tool, the fact is that humans possess certain indispensable attributes that robots and AI cannot match. Human attributes such as flexibility, soft skills, understanding of context and a moral compass, among others, are characteristics that are not likely to be offered by machines any time soon. People also have played a key role in a number of critical supply chain situations, such as major disruptions. To be used to their full potential, tools like AI will require human guidance and ingenuity — meaning that rather than job replacement, these technologies will enable job augmentation. AI is surely poised to fundamentally alter human work and jobs, but it is not likely to replace them outright.
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Author's Biography
Yossi Sheffi PhD is the Elisha Gray II Professor of Engineering Systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he serves as Director of the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics (MIT CTL). He is an expert in systems optimisation, risk and resilience and supply chain management, topics he researches and teaches at MIT and other leading business and engineering schools. Yossi is the author of a 1985 textbook on transportation networks and eight management books, dealing with supply chain resilience, sustainability, industrial clustering and other business management issues. His latest book, The Magic Conveyor Belt: Supply Chains, A.I., and The Future of Work, was published in March 2023. Under his leadership, MIT CTL has launched many educational, research and industry/government outreach programmes, including the MIT Master of Engineering in Logistics in 1998, the MIT Master of Applied Sciences in Supply Chain Management and the MIT online offering, MITx MicroMasters® Program in Supply Chain Management. Launched in 2016, the programme had its millionth registrant at the end of 2022. Outside academia, Yossi has consulted with numerous government agencies as well as leading manufacturing, retail and transportation enterprises all over the world. He is also an active entrepreneur, having founded five successful companies, all acquired by larger enterprises, and a sought-after speaker at corporate and professional events. He obtained his BSc from the Technion in Israel in 1975, his SM from MIT in 1977, and PhD from MIT in 1978.
Citation
Sheffi, Yossi (2024, June 1). Technology is not enough: Potential job displacement in an AI-driven future. In the Journal of Supply Chain Management, Logistics and Procurement, Volume 6, Issue 4. https://doi.org/10.69554/FAVX7910.
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