ECN 105T Economic Growth and Work in the Age of AI: Artisans or Algorithms?
Recent decades have been characterized by unprecedented rates of economic growth that have brought millions of people across the globe out of poverty. Growth dynamics are likely to change even more rapidly as artificial intelligence (AI) technologies become increasingly sophisticated and integral to the process of production and distribution of goods and services worldwide. However, rapid growth and increasing reliance on sophisticated production technologies come with costs and risks that must be considered alongside the evident benefits. How will the nature of work change in the age of AI? Some professions, production processes and tasks may be, by nature, more resistant to the incursion of technology, raising important questions that society will need to answer in the coming years. What is the future of artists, artisans and tradition in an age of highly-sophisticated technologies capable of replicating creative work at a fraction of the time and cost? Should there be a 'human-made' premium on handcrafted creative output? Should economists focus on alternative measures of growth that give greater weight to quality of output rather than quantity, or to the benefit that such production brings in terms of societal wellbeing? This course will prompt contemplation of these and other important issues.