Looking back over the centuries on the effect new technology had on jobs we see a clear pattern.
In the 15th-century books were expensive and only available for the few, because they were copied by hand one by one. But with the invention of the printing press, books became much more accessible and available for more people. The people who used to copy books by hand lost their jobs, but it gave rise to many new jobs in publishing, journalism, news and many more.
With the introduction of the steam engine in 1712 many manual labor jobs were lost. But at the same time it opened for many new factory jobs and jobs with the rail roads. While also allowing for prosperity and productivity in the society and enabling more people to travel, and goods to be moved greater distances.
In the early 20th-century, the automobile undermined jobs in industries related to horses transport and wagon makes, while introducing a need for mechanics, gas stations and paved roads.
More recently the invention of computers made a lot of calculation and journaling jobs obsolete, while making programmers and system engineers some of the most in-demand jobs. And there is no doubt that computers have increased efficiency in many businesses.
And as a last example there is the internet, which caused layoff in everything from movie rental and retail stores to banks and newspapers. Across the board many more new jobs have been created to doing online business and socializing, and developing new services and sharing knowledge for the benefit of all.
And now with AI entering the arena and becoming available for everyday use, there is no doubt that AI will make many jobs more efficient and require less people or make the jobs cease to exist at all. But at the same time, we will undoubtably see a myriad of new jobs come into existence while heightening prosperity throughout society.
What do you think these AI introduced jobs might be?
Med over 20 års erfaring inden for eCommerce, online markedsføring og digital forretningsudvikling er Jan velbevandret i alle dicipliner relateret til at drive digital forretning, herunder også ledelse af teams, logistik, backoffice, kundeservice og alt hvad der ellers ligger bag at drive en profitable forretning.