The political effects of Artificial Intelligence

Politically, AI is most likely going to shift the entire political spectrum to the left. One of the most important reasons for this is that corporations have many incentives to replace workers by AI, creating increasing inequality between a small elite and the greater part of the common workforce that would start promoting left policies. Even if mass unemployment would not take place and equality is mostly maintained through the creation of new working opportunities, workers are likely to be forced to change jobs often as AI takes over routine work, increasing the amount of workplace shifting intervals, causing voices from labour unions to demand policy makers to simplify and expand welfare in order to ensure a smooth job transition. If made, such changes might also create a buffer to weaken Artificial Intelligence’s negative impact if economists’ predictions fail and Artificial Intelligence destroys more jobs than it creates, as some economists and futurists like f.e. Yuval Noah Harari have stated that no law of nature guarantees that the economical situation will evolve in the same way as at the end of the 19th century.

Written by Paul Zhuromskyy, Sonja Papan, Isabelle v.  Stiphout