No “significant” loss of jobs from Artificial Intelligence in China

Contrary to popular belief in China, Artificial Intelligence (AI) will not destroy as many jobs as they feared.

In fact, more jobs could be created with the rise of AI, according to a report by The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences as well as consultancy firm PwC.

The national think tank further added that during China’s 14th Five-Year Plan, which starts in 2021, the rise of robots will not lead to “significant” job destruction.

Read: Why Artificial Intelligence can’t replace us

China is the leading force in the global rise of AI, having installed 154,032 industrial robots in 2018 according to the International Federation of Robotics (IFR), more than the number of industrial robots installed in Europe and the Americas combined.

Many restaurants, hotels and factories in China have already implemented the use of AI to serve its customers.

Facing the greatest threat from the AI are low skilled jobs which are manual and repetitive in nature. But the report has reassured workers that their jobs will be transferred to other roles instead of being rendered obsolete altogether.

And it seems China has the support and confidence of their people as a survey conducted last year by Dentsu Aegis Network found that 65% of Chinese respondents think that AI and robotics will help create more jobs instead of taking them.

A PwC report further supports the notion as they predict that while 26% of jobs in China will be displaced, the boosted output and income from AI will generate 38% more jobs as businesses will have extra revenue to create more products thus requiring more workers.