Elon Musk’s views on practically anything they tend to raise many other opinions as well. This time, in his vision of the future of employment, it does not seem that it will be different.
The CEO of Tesla and Space X is noted for being a fervent defender of the development of technology and Artificial Intelligence, in fact he hopes to trust completely the autonomous driving modes of his cars in the future. Nevertheless, Musk also has a pessimistic view on AI, being aware that its continuous improvement may jeopardize millions of jobs around the world.
“Artificial intelligence will make jobs meaningless”Musk said Thursday, speaking alongside Alibaba founder Jack Ma at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference in Shanghai.
However, after these words, Musk added with certain specializations where he believes that the human factor continues to be important in the world of work.
What to study according to Musk to have an AI-proof job
Those least vulnerable to that job disruption will be people who can program artificial intelligence software, Musk noted. who recommended young people to study computer engineering. That is, those people who master the very engine of this change.
But even then, he said, these positions may not be that common. “Eventually the AI will just write its own software”, said.
Musk’s comments come amid a growing debate about the impact of technology on the global workforce. The World Economic Forum has predicted that by 2022 75 million jobs will have been displaced.
Human contact, irreplaceable
However, it was not all doom and gloom. Musk said that companies focused on human interaction will continue to prosper, even in a rapidly evolving employment landscape.
“People fundamentally enjoy interacting with other people,” he said. “If you work on something that involves people or engineering, it’s probably a good approach,” he said, citing the “art” as another component where AI has little to do.
Thus, all those positions where the human-human relationship has an intrinsic value beyond the economic one, will continue to be relevant according to Musk’s vision. We’ll see if he’s right.