Former Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan on Friday said there was a possibility that artificial intelligence could take over jobs that need both skilled and unskilled workers. From unskilled sweatshops to high-skilled professions such as medicine, jobs could could see a vast change with advances in machine learning, the economist said at the #FUTURE Global Digital Summit, organised by the Kerala government, PTI reported.
He, however, said India has to embrace technology and become a leader in the digital transformation taking place around the globe without being bogged down by unfounded fears of job losses, incomes or machines replacing humans.
“Two hundred years since the industrial revolution, jobs are still around,” he said. “People and society adapt to do the things that machines cannot do. With technology, there is going to be restructuring across every job, taking away the routine aspects and leaving the creative and customised aspects of that job.”
Rajan also spoke about Universal Basic Income, which he said could allay fears about earning of income in the future. He also emphasised the need to improve the education system and skill development in India.
“We are not as global as we should be even now,” Rajan said. “Too many of our people are too poorly educated or skilled to compete in a globalised tech-enabled economy.”
The economist also said that the government needs to introduce more initiatives in terms of funding and incorporation for startups to grow in India. “We have to make sure that the companies of our future are incorporated in India, get Indian financing and expand significantly,” he asserted. “We cannot miss out on the Artificial Intelligence and robotics revolution.
Rajan is currently a professor of finance at the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business.
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