AI Will Take Over Half Of All Human Jobs In 10 Years, Former Google Boss Says

Kai-Fu Lee is the former president of Google China and in a recent interview, he said that around half of all human jobs in the world will be replaced by artificial intelligence over the next decade. It will start with white collar positions and then move on to simpler jobs that machines can perform. In terms of economic disruption, this could be the fastest in history.

Lee made this declaration during his time at CNBC’s Squawk Box, where the former Google executive says that the next decade will see the fastest employment disruption period at any point in history. On top of saying that people will lose their jobs during this time, Lee also said that it was nonsense to believe that it will create new ones on a level that would matter.

"The white collar jobs are easier to take because they're pure a quantitative analytical process. Reporters, traders, telemarketing, telesales, customer service, [and] analysts, there can all be replaced by a software. To do blue collar, some of work requires hand-eye coordination, things that machines are not yet good enough to do," Lee said before later adding, "Robots are clearly replacing people jobs. They're working 24 by 7. They are more efficient. They need some programming. But one programer can program 10,000 robots."

As Futurism notes, Lee is not alone in seeing this pattern either. There is AIVA Technologies CEO Pierre Barreau who says that he agrees with Lee, with TechCode general manager Luke Tang noting that AI is already replacing human workers right now.

Lee also touched on the prospect of Universal Basic Income (UBI), saying that it won’t solve the problem. The only way for displaced workers to survive in the upcoming economy is to learn new skills that will become relevant for future employment.