Humans still cheaper than AI in vast majority of jobs, MIT finds

An ABB autonomous robot navigates around a warehouse, in Burgos, Spain. Researchers found only 23% of workers, measured in terms of dollar wages, could be effectively supplanted by AI. — ABB/Handout via Reuters

Artificial intelligence can’t replace the majority of jobs right now in cost-effective ways, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found in a study that sought to address fears about AI replacing humans in a swath of industries.

In one of the first in-depth probes of the viability of AI displacing labour, researchers modelled the cost attractiveness of automating various tasks in the US, concentrating on jobs where computer vision was employed – for instance, teachers and property appraisers. They found only 23% of workers, measured in terms of dollar wages, could be effectively supplanted. In other cases, because AI-assisted visual recognition is expensive to install and operate, humans did the job more economically.