Why Artificial Intelligence Cannot Replace Humans at Work

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key player in the economy of the 21st century. However, it cannot replace humans at work. The future of work is changing and AI cannot keep up with an increasingly complex world. This change has been accelerated by the digitalization of almost all human activities, including work. The implications for employment are profound: What kind of job could you have if artificial intelligence could not compete with you in the workplace? In this blog post, we explore why artificial intelligence cannot replace humans at work – the facts.

AI is not a replacement for human work

Artificial intelligence is not a replacement for human work. It can only take the place of tasks that can be done by people. Humans are far more creative and intelligent than computers, and they have proven themselves capable of handling the bulk of work in occupations that require creativity and judgment, such as human-computer interaction, finance, legal, marketing, medical diagnosis, and material design. In other words, AI can help humans do more with less, and humans can do more with less because AI can help us create and manage more complex models with more information and better decision-making. However, AI will never be able to take over all jobs, at least not in the short term.

We are still far from having AI systems that can perform all the work necessary for the great majority of jobs. The adoption of AI in the workplace must happen gradually and carefully, taking into account the needs of both humans and artificial intelligence.

AI can help humans do more with less

AI can make people’s lives easier, not replace them. It can help people do more with less, using the same amount of human labour. This is a key difference between artificial intelligence and human intelligence: Humans are smart and can do things with their minds that computers can’t. AI can do the same things that humans can do, but much more quickly and accurately with machine learning. AI systems can learn new tasks and acquire new knowledge much faster than humans can. Given enough time, an AI system could learn to play chess better than anyone on Earth, but we aren’t sure whether it will get there in a single lifetime. The demand for more complex tasks is expected to grow as automation becomes more widespread. In this case, AI could take over certain aspects of human work and increase productivity without increasing the workload on humans.

AI can support the work of humans

AI systems can also support humans in many situations where a human could not do the task by themselves. For example, an artificial intelligence system could help with legal research, content review, or financial analysis. Beyond this, most AI systems can’t do everything that humans can do. Humans are not only more advanced than AI systems, but humans are also more creative and make better use of information. For example, medical AI could one day help humans identify and manage diseases better. Weinstein and McElroy’s work on image-based glucose monitoring shows how AI could enhance medical diagnosis, making possible noninvasive, accurate, and consistent diagnostics in the home. Let’s assume for the moment that we accept the idea that AI can’t replace humans at work. What does this mean for the future of work?

AI will not be able to take over all jobs – at least not in the short term

There is no doubt that artificial intelligence (AI) will be a key player in the economy of the 21st century. However, it cannot replace humans at work. We must all work together to use AI at its full potential and to create new realities where humans and AI work side by side. AI systems cannot do everything that humans can do, and vice versa. Humans have advantages that can’t be taken away: We have the sense of smell, for example, and we use sound to communicate. These are the basis for almost all jobs, and AI systems will have to work with us on this.

AI will have its place in the future – but only after we learn how to use it responsibly

When it comes to working with AI systems, we have to remember that we are dealing with intelligent machines. Like any other machine, AI systems will experience frustration and even despair when faced with tasks that we humans cannot do. It is important that we keep this in mind when working with AI.

Summing up

Artificial intelligence cannot replace humans at work – the facts. It can only help humans do more with less, and humans can do more with less because AI can support the work of humans. This means that AI will have a place in the future of work, but only after we learn to use it responsibly.