Andrew Haldane, the Fourth Industrial Revolution and the Policy Challenge of Artificial Intelligence

The last part of the headline is the title of an article from B.U.'s James Bessen, Executive Director of the Technology & Policy Research Initiative at Boston University School of Law for Competition Policy International, which was referenced in a piece at Overcoming Bias:
"Compulsory Licensing Of Backroom IT?"

That post was brought to mind by this from the BBC Monday:

Bank of England chief economist warns on AI jobs threat

The chief economist of the Bank of England has warned that the UK will need a skills revolution to avoid "large swathes" of people becoming "technologically unemployed" as artificial intelligence makes many jobs obsolete.

Andy Haldane said the possible disruption of what is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution could be "on a much greater scale" than anything felt during the First Industrial Revolution of the Victorian era.

He said that he had seen a widespread "hollowing out" of the jobs market, rising inequality, social tension and many people struggling to make a living.

It was important to learn the "lessons of history", he argued, and ensure that people were given the training to take advantage of the new jobs that would become available.
He added that in the past a safety net such as new welfare benefits had also been provided.

'Dark side'
Mr Haldane's points were echoed by the new head of the government's advisory council on artificial intelligence, who also warned there was a "huge risk" of people being left behind as computers and robots changed the world of work.Tabitha Goldstaub, chair of the newly formed Artificial Intelligence Council, said that the challenge was ensuring that people were ready for change and that the focus was on creating the new jobs of the future to replace those that would disappear.

"Each of those [industrial revolutions] had a wrenching and lengthy impact on the jobs market, on the lives and livelihoods of large swathes of society," Mr Haldane told me for the Today Programme.

"Jobs were effectively taken by machines of various types, there was a hollowing out of the jobs market, and that left a lot of people for a lengthy period out of work and struggling to make a living.

"That heightened social tensions, it heightened financial tensions, it led to a rise in inequality.
"This is the dark side of technological revolutions and that dark-side has always been there.

"That hollowing out is going to be potentially on a much greater scale in the future, when we have machines both thinking and doing - replacing both the cognitive and the technical skills of humans."...

...MORE

HT: ZH

Other than that Mr. Haldane....