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The session titled ‘Future of Work’ brought together AI thinkers and practitioners from across the globe on Day 4 of the RAISE 2020 summit. The expert panel discussed the opportunities and threats posed by AI in the modern workplace, as well as the skill development for an AI economy.
Hosted and moderated by Dr. R. Ramanan, Mission Director of Atal Innovation Mission, the session saw participation of some distinguished names in the field, including:
- Mr. Michal Rutkowski, Global Director for Social Protection and Labor, World Bank Group
- Dr. Carl Benedikt Frey, Director, Future of Work at Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford
- Mr. Prashant Pathak, CEO, Ekagrata Inc.
- Mr. Sridhar Vembu, Founder, ZOHO
- Ms. Urvashi Aneja, Founding Director, Tandem Research
- Mr. Rajiv Sodhi, COO, Microsoft India
- Mr. Rajiv Malhotra, Researcher, Author, Speaker
In his keynote address, Michal Rutkowski highlighted the need to reform labour policies such that they “protect people, not jobs.” He endorsed complementary investments in areas that bridge the digital divide and ensure data privacy as a way for addressing the existing inequalities, so that the benefits of the inevitable AI disruption can be reaped by all. Delivering the second keynote, Dr. Carl demonstrated how the resistance to technological change has been the historical norm because it ushers in a wave of job displacement. He, however, warned against “falling in the technology trap where the long term benefits of AI are denied to us because of short term resistance.”
Kicking off the panel discussion, Mr. Pathak busted three myths surrounding AI, “coding is not equal to literacy”, “automation is not equivalent to intelligence,” and “statistical correlation and conditional probability is not knowledge.” Mr. Vembu shrugged off the fear of robots replacing humans- attributing this inhibition to the unequal distribution of resources- as “the human capacity to invent jobs is infinite.” Ms. Aneja, the only female panelist, raised concerns about women being the worst affected victims of automation as the largest occupiers of entry-level jobs in the low-skill economy. Mr. Sodhi warned against complacence about tech neutrality as it is easy for algorithms and programs to eventually start mirroring human bias. The session concluded with a talk by Mr. Malhotra on the theme of his upcoming book, primarily discussing the disruptions that AI is likely to cause in the Indian job market.
Responsible AI for Social Empowerment 2020 is a global virtual summit on Artificial Intelligence hosted by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India.
